The Legend of Elita
by Cydra
Summary: The Decepticon army has invaded Cybertron and a mech from every family must serve in the army. To save her aged and wounded father, Elita impersonates a mech to take his place. Will she bring honor to her family or face her doom? Based on Disney's Mulan.
1. Honor to Us All

**The Legend of Elita**

**Chapter 1: Honor To Us All**

The Great Space Wall was the primary means of defense for invading forces from outer space against Cybertron. The term 'wall' was used a bit loosely since the defense system consisted of a series of space elevators that spanned the planet. When a threat was detected, ranging from a meteor that wouldn't burn up into something harmless upon entering Cybertron's atmosphere to a possible invasion, the tops of the space elevators would extend a force field that protected the entire planet. However, since the Great Wars had ended long ago, the Great Space Wall was rarely needed. However, that did not mean they would be unprotected.

That evening, a lone soldier was patrolling the command center at the top of one space elevator. Rodimus Minor looked over the various monitors. "Energy flow, normal, AS guns, charged, scanning range," Rodimus paused at this one, "Hmm… I don't see why we should have it at full range, considering that there aren't going to even be any meteorites this time of year. But I ought to do a quick scan to be sure." He turned up a knob, but nothing appeared on the screen. "Oh great," sighed Rodimus, "Now I'll have to go outside and fix it." While Autobots aren't bothered by the vacuum of space, it was still an inconvenience to have to go outside and manually check the scanner dishes.

Rodimus walked out through the airlock and towards where the scanner dishes were. When he got there, he noticed something amiss. The dishes were all smashed up. It didn't seem likely to have been meteorites that did it, since the dishes would have detected them as soon as they gotten close and would have alerted the station. Rodimus approached them and took a closer look. No, they definitely didn't get smashed by meteorites. Meteorites don't have claws.

Suddenly, something screeched before flying over his head, knocking his helmet off as it went. Rodimus winced and looked up to see what hit him. Perched on one of the broken dishes perched a robotic bird that was glaring at him with red eyes. Rodimus frowned. Cyber-hawks couldn't possibly be able to fly this high without help. The bird turned its head upwards and emitted a loud cry while flashing a purple beam from its beak.

Rodimus was about to approach the bird when he noticed a little red dot of light on one of the anti-spacecraft guns. It didn't look like one of the lights that were part of the cannon, more like someone was shining a light onto it. Just then, several more red dots appeared on the cannon as well as the rest before a hail of energy blasts started falling down from space and destroyed them.

Rodimus quickly rolled out of the way and ran back towards the command center. He activated his comlink and said, "This is Rodimus Minor, we are facing an invasion force. Activate the beacons now!" However, before he could get through the door, a pair of Decepticons landed in front of him. One of them was mostly beige and purple with a red angry-looking face. The other was tall and lanky, with a single red eye in the middle of his face, if he had one. "Going somevhere, Autobot?" said the purple and beige one before pointing his cannons at the door and welding it shut.

Rodimus cursed silently. Now the only way to activate the beacon was from the observation deck, which was above his current floor. Fortunately, there was a ladder nearby. Rodimus quickly doubled back and started to climb it. "Not so fast, Autobot," said the lanky Decepticon in a cool voice before pointing his cannon at Rodimus and firing. Rodimus climbed out of the way, but the blast shot off the bottom of the ladder. Nevertheless, Rodimus made it to the top and quickly ran towards the activation switch for the beacon.

Suddenly, another Decepticon landed nearby. This was large, grey, and looked totally ruthless. Rodimus stared in shock for a moment. He had heard stories about the Decepticons trying to invade Cybertron once in a while, but not by their current leader. The cyber-hawk from before flew over and perched on the Decepticon leader's shoulder.

Then Rodimus remembered his objective and pulled the activation switch. The beacon immediately lit up a bright red color. The Decepticon leader glanced outwards towards the nearest space elevator. The beacon on it had just lit up. This quickly repeated for the other elevators until all the beacons in sight were shining red. "Now all of Cybertron knows you're here," said Rodimus.

The Decepticon leader grabbed the remains of an anti-spacecraft gun and ripped it off. He removed the energy core for it and threw it a large Autobot insignia at the wall. The energy core exploded on contact, destroying the insignia and much of the wall. The Decepticon leader smiled and said, "Perfect."

A blue and white military truck drove into the Imperial Chamber, accompanied by two Autotroopers. The three of them transformed to robot mode as soon as they reached the base of the platform that the current Emperor of Cybertron, Alpha Trion, sat upon. "Your majesty," said Ultra Magnus, the first of the three, "We have received approach that the Decepticons have managed to breach Cybertron's atmosphere."

"Impossible," said a red robot wearing yellow glasses that stood at Alpha Trion's side, "The Great Space Wall has been calculated to be the ultimate method of planetary defense. No force of Decepticons could possibly bypass it."

"There were being led by Megatron," said Ultra Magnus grimly. Alpha Trion also frowned. The 'Emperor of Destruction', as Megatron called himself, has a terrifying reputation that have each reached Autobot audio receptors. He was known for being a bot that was tremendously strong, deviously cunning, and absolutely merciless. If he had managed to lead an army of Decepticons onto Cybertron, it could only mean grave danger.

"Fortunately, the anti-aircraft guns are still operational all over Cybertron," said Ultra Magnus, "Should they detect any flying Decepticons, they will be shot down. However, it is probably and more than likely that they will keep to the ground, low altitudes at the highest, in area that are more remote. But they will doubtlessly be heading for your palace. We shall set up defenses around it immediately."

"No," said Alpha Trion, standing up, "Send your troops to protect my people." He turned to the red Autobot, "Perceptor, deliver conscription notices throughout all the provinces, call up reserves. One bot from every family must be drafted for the army. We must recruit as many new soldiers as possible."

Perceptor nodded and said, "Yes, your Highness," before transforming to truck mode and driving off.

"Forgive me, your Majesty," said Ultra Magnus, "But this seems like an unnecessary amount of firepower. I believe my troops are capable of stopping the Decepticons."

"I won't take any chances, General," said Alpha Trion as he walked towards him, "A single grain of Energon dust can tip the scale. One bot may be the difference between victory and defeat."

Far away from the Imperial Palace, at a small Energon farm just outside of Crystal City, a young yellow femme was carefully studying from a scroll. As well as copying what was on that scroll to her right forearm. "Ok, let's see," she said to herself, "quiet and demure… graceful, polite, delicate, refine, poised, and…punctual." Suddenly, a robot rooster crowed. The femme jumped up. "Oh slag, I'm late!" she cried. She quickly ran through the house. "Sparkplug!" she called, pausing to blow on the cyberglyphs on her arm to help the ink dry faster, "Sparkplug! Spark- Ah, there you are."

Elita stopped when she spotted a robotic dog, sleeping on the floor. The dog woke at the sound of her voice and barked excitedly. "Ah, you're the smartest doggy on Cybertron. C'mon smart boy, you wanna help me with my chores today?" Elita grabbed a bag of Energon pellets, a rope, a string, a stick, and a metal bone. She tied the bag to one end of a rope and slit a hole in the bottom of it. She tied the bone to the end of the stick with a string and fastened it to Sparkplug's collar. Sparkplug looked at the bone and barked excitedly as he chased the 'floating' bone out the door, leaving a trail of Energon pellets behind him. Sparkplug ran through a flock of robot chickens outside which then started pecking at the corn.

Meanwhile, at a small shrine on the farm, an old medibot was knelt in front of the several stones that were inscribed with cyberglyphics, which represented the deceased members of the One family. He placed a burning stick of incense into the dish of an incense burner shaped like a serpentine dragon. "Honorable ancestors," said Ratchet solemnly, "Please help Elita to impress the matchmaker today." Just then, Sparkplug ran in and out of the shrine, barking loudly. A flock of robot chickens quickly entered the shrine and started pecking at the Energon pellets left behind. Ratchet sighed and said louder, "Please, please help her."

Sparkplug eventually stopped 'chasing the bone' and was now trying to grab it, even though it was tantalizingly out of reach. The robot dog whined as he tried to take the elusive prize. Just then, Elita came by, holding a platter that had a kettle and a tea cup on it. She paused when she saw Sparkplug and pulled the bone down closer to his mouth. Sparkplug grabbed it and started chewing on it. "Father!" called Elita, "I brought your-"

Just then, Ratchet came out of the shrine, bumping into her and causing the platter to go flying. The teacup shattered on the ground, but the kettle was caught on Ratchet's walking stick. "Elita!" he cried in surprise.

"I brought a spare," said Elita as she pulled an extra teacup out.

"Elita," started Ratchet.

"Remember, you're supposed to take three cups of Morphobot tea in the morning," said Elita, pouring the tea into the teacup.

Elita…" started Ratchet.

"And three at night," said Elita.

"Elita, you should already be in town," said Ratchet, "They're counting on you to-"

"Uphold the family honor," finished Elita, "Don't worry, Father. I won't let you down." She slid her sleeve further down her arm to cover her notes before heading down the steps and calling, "Wish me luck!"

"Hurry!" called Ratchet. Sparkplug watched Elita go before giving Ratchet a befuddled look. Ratchet sighed and said, "I'm going to...pray some more."

In Crystal City, the streets were all in a hustle. Autobot merchants were racing here and there in vehicle mode, carrying carts full of goods to sell. Outside the beauty salon, a pink and white femme was pacing anxiously. Another femme came out of the beauty salon and said, "Arcee-One, is your daughter here yet? The matchmaker is not a patient femme."

Arcee sighed as the other femme went back inside. "Of all days to be late," she groaned, "I should have prayed to the ancestors for luck."

Ratchet's sister, Red Alert, walked up to Arcee. "How lucky can they be?" said Red Alert, "They're dead. Besides, I have all the luck we'll need right here." She held up a cage holding a small cyborg creature with six tentacle-like arms, four crab-like legs, and a look in his single eye that hinted that he just found out he got the wrong end of an acting contract. Red Alert looked at the rushing traffic and said to the creature, "This is your chance to prove yourself." The creature gave her a look like she was crazy.

Red Alert covered her eyes with one hand and started walking out into the busy street. "Red Alert, no!" called Arcee. Red Alert seemed fine for a few moments but then two Autobots were driving where she was going and couldn't stop in time. They both screamed loudly before they collided, causing a large cloud of dust.

However, Red Alert walked out of that dust completely unharmed. She made it to the other side of the street and called, "Yep, this cyber-cricket's a lucky one!" Said cyber-cricket looked decidedly shell-shocked from that near-brush with death and fainted onto the floor of his cage.

Arcee sighed before hearing a not-too-far-away roar. Just then, Elita came riding in on the back of the family Dinobot stallion, Snarl. Snarl came to a stop in front of Arcee and Elita jumped off. "I'm here, " said Elita. She noticed her mother's disapproving look, "What? But Mama, I had to-"

"None of your excuses," snapped Arcee, "Let's just get you cleaned up." Then the two of them headed into the beauty salon.

Salon Mistress:

_This is what you give me to work with?_

_Well, honey, I've seen worse_

_We're going to turn this sow's ear_

_Into a silk purse_

Elita:

It's freezing!

Arcee:

It would have been warm if you had been here on time.

Salon Mistress:

_We'll have you_

_Washed and dried_

_Primped and polished till you glow with pride_

_Trust my recipe for instant bride_

_You'll bring honor to us all_

Arcee:

(discovering notes on Elita's arm) Elita, what's this?

Elita:

Uh, notes, in case I forget something?

Red Alert:

Hold this. (hands cyber-cricket cage to Arcee) We'll need more luck than I thought.

Several:

_Wait and see_

_When we're through_

_Mechs will gladly go to war for you_

_With good fortune and a great hairdo_

_You'll bring honor to us all_

_A femme can bring her family_

_Great honor in one way_

_By striking a good match_

_And this could be the day_

_Mechs want femmes with good taste_

_Calm_

_Obedient_

_Who work fast-paced_

_With good breeding_

_And a tiny waist_

_You'll bring honor to us all_

_We all must serve our Emperor_

_Who guards us from the Huns_

_A mech by bearing arms_

_A femme by bearing sons_

_When we're through you can't fail_

_Like a lotus blossom soft and palm_

_How could any fellow say "No sale"_

_You'll bring honor to us all_

Arcee:

There - you're ready

Red Alert:

Not yet

An apple for serenity ...

A pendant for balance ...

_Beads of jade for beauty_

_You must proudly show it_

_Now add a cricket just for luck_

_And even you can't blow it_

Elita:

_Ancestors_

_Hear my plea_

_Help me not to make a fool of me_

_And to not uproot my fam'ly tree_

_Keep my father standing tall_

Several:

_Scarier than the undertaker_

_We are meeting our matchmaker_

_Destiny_

_Guard our girls_

_And our future as it fast unfurls_

_Please look kindly on these cultured pearls_

_Each a perfect porcelain doll_

_Please bring honor to us_

Please bring honor to us

Please bring honor to us

Please bring honor to us

Please bring honor to us all

The doors opened with a bang, allowing the matchmaker, Botanica, to walk outside. Or glide, or whatever she does with her hover-skirt. She looked at a datapad and called out, "Elita-One?"

Elita raised her hand and called, "Present!"

Botanica frowned and wrote on her datapad while saying, "Speaking without permission…"

"Oops," groaned Elita. This was coming out to a bad start.

Red Alert noticed Botanica's foul temper and whispered to Arcee, "Who spit in her oil?"

Elita walked into the matchmaker's house, Botanica slamming the doors after her. As soon as they were inside, Botanica looked her over and muttered, "Too skinny, not good for baring sons." Elita silently moaned. This was not looking good at all.

And to make it all worse, Chip the cyber-cricket had just managed to open his cage and hopped out onto Botanica's shoulder as she was turning around. Elita quickly snatched him off and was about to return him to his cage when Chip jumped out again. Eltia spent several seconds trying to keep a hold on Chip as he jumped out of her grasp. Eventually, she caught him again but Botanica had just turned back around, forcing Eltia to hide Chip in her mouth.

"Recite the final admonition," said Botanica.

Elita nodded and unfurled her fan in front of her face. She took the opportunity to spit Chip out as soon as her mouth was hidden. "Fulfill your duties calmly…and respectfully…" recited Elita, she paused as she had trouble reading the cyberglyphs on her forearm, which was now running because of her bath, "Reflect before you snack-ACT! This shall bring you honor and glory!" She finished the recitation quickly to cover up her brief mistake. Botanica didn't seem to notice so Eltia let out a sigh of relief before fanning herself.

Botanica snatched the fan from her hand and looked at both sides of it. Apparently she was checking for any crib sheets on the fan. When she didn't find any, she said, "This way." She took Elita by the forearm and led her to a table. However, by doing so, she rubbed the wet ink from the real location of the crib sheets onto her hand. Botanica took a teapot off a small stove and placed it near a teacup on the table and said, "Now, pour the tea." As Elita picked up the teapot, Botanica kept speaking, "To please your future in-laws, you must demonstrate a sense of dignity and refinement." She traced her fingers around her mouth, unknowingly drawing an ink beard on her face.

Elita was paying so much attention to the 'beard' on Botanica's face that she didn't notice that she was pouring tea onto the table until a sizeable puddle had formed. She eventually noticed and quickly stopped spilling the tea and filled up the cup. As she did, she heard a contented sigh. She looked into the teacup and saw that Chip was relaxing in the warm tea like it was a hottub.

"You must also be poised," continued Botanica as she took the teacup.

"Um, pardon me…" whispered Elita.

"And silent!" snapped Botanica. She brought the teacup to her mouth and inhaled the steam. She sighed with content as Chip wondered where the sudden wind had come from.

Elita put her hand on the teacup and said, "If I could have that back for just a moment…" She tried to take back the teacup, but Botanica wouldn't let go. The two ended up in a brief tug-of-war over the teacup which ended when Elita lost her grip and Botanica went flying back, spilling the hot tea and Chip onto her dress.

Botanica glared at Elita and growled, "Why you clumsy-" Suddenly, she felt something moving around inside her dress. She yelped in surprised, hopping backwards until she accidentally sat on the stove. She gave a cry of pain as she leapt up, clutching her smoking bottom. She yelled in pain as she hopped about, slapping at the smoldering part of her dress. Elita quickly ran over and tried to blow it out by waving her fan at it. Instead, she only made it strong until it burst into flame.

Everyone outside could hear the screaming going on inside and were wincing with each crash. "I think it's going well, don't you?" commented Red Alert to Arcee.

Just then, Botanica ran out with her behind on fire. She screamed, "Put it out! Put it out! Put it out!" Elita ran outside and threw the contents of the teapot at Botanica. The tea doused the flames, but it also smeared her makeup and the inky beard on her face.

Elita giggled in embarrassment and said, "Sorry," before handing the teapot back to Botanica and rushing back to her mother and aunt. Chip quickly scuttled out of the house and hopped back into the cage, shutting the door behind him.

"Elita?" started Arcee.

Just then, Botanica threw the teapot at Elita's feet and yelled, "You are a disgrace! You may look like a bride, but you will never bring your family honor!" She then stormed inside her house and slammed the door in a huff. Elita groaned. There was no way the matchmaker would ever help her find a husband now, if one would even want her. She had just dishonored her entire family.

* * *

Here's the first chapter of my anual Christmas parody story. And this year, I'm doing Disney's Mulan with Transformers Animated. So far, I think I've been doing a good job with drawing parallels between ancient China and Cybertron, especially with the Great Space Wall. I think I also have the characters in appropriate roles as well. I made Red Alert Elita's aunt because she was the only femme who was close enough to Grandma Fa and she was too young to be a grandmother. I originally considered Strika for the position of the matchmaker, but I decided having a Decepticon would be too awkward so I used Botanica instead. Not that I dislike her, but she seemed the next best player for the role. Chip is my own character and a bit of cheat since he's not a Transformer. I considered Scalpel, but again the Decepticon angle was too awkward. Anyhow, I shall try to update this story as often as possible so it'll be done in time for Christmas. Keep an eye out for the next story and please review.


	2. Reflection

**The Legend of Elita**

**Chapter 2: Reflection**

Elita walked Snarl all the way back to the farm. She was in no mood for riding or driving. Without the matchmaker's help, finding a proper husband will be nearly impossible. By humiliating Botanica, she had effectively ended the One family line.

When she opened the gate to walk in, she saw her father sitting on the front porch. Apparently, he had been waiting all day for them to return. He was probably expecting to hear the good news of how Elita will soon have a husband. However, Elita turned away and walked Snarl back to his pen. He took the reins off the Dinobot and sighed as she looked at her reflection in the water trough.

Elita:

_Look at me_

_I will never pass for a perfect bride_

_Or a perfect daughter_

_Can it be_

_I'm not meant to play this part?_

_Now I see_

_That if I were truly to be myself_

_I would break my fam'ly's heart_

_Who is that girl I see_

_Staring straight_

_Back at me?_

_Why is my reflection someone_

_I don't know?_

_Somehow I cannot hide_

_Who I am_

_Though I've tried_

_When will my reflection show_

_Who I am inside?_

_When will my reflection show_

_Who I am inside?_

Ratchet walked out into the garden. Arcee had told him about how Elita's attempt to impress the matchmaker, well, backfired. He spotted her sitting under the cherry trees. She had removed her makeup and the flower-like clip from her helmet's 'ponytail'. The clip was currently sitting on her lap. The look on her face clearly showed her disappointment in herself.

Ratchet walked over and sat down on the stone bench next to her. He looked up at the blossoming cherry trees and said, "Such beautiful blossoms we're having this year," said Ratchet, "No matter how old I'm getting, my optics never get tired of looking at them." He pointed at one flower that was still a closed bud. "But look, that one is late. But I bet that when it blooms, it will be the most beautiful of all." He took the clip and reattached it to Elita's head. Elita smiled at her father, the metaphor on the blossom not loss on her.

Ratchet smiled back at her, but then his face hardened. He heard a buzzing in the air, the kind of buzzing that doesn't come from a bee or wasp. It was from the emergency alarms. He stood up as fast as his old stabilizers would allow him. "What is it?" asked Elita.

"Trouble," said Ratchet, "Big trouble."

The two of them hurried to the front gate. Ratchet opened the gate and walked out. Arcee followed but paused and said to Elita, "Elita, stay inside."

"But-" started Elita.

"This is not a good time to go out," said Arcee before going out the gate.

Red Alert also headed towards the gate, but she paused to clear her vocal synthesizer. She pointed with her thumb towards the wall besides the gate. More specifically, the wall that was near the shack they kept Snarl's polishing equipment. Elita quickly went over there and climbed up the side of the shack so she could see over the wall.

Outside the farm's wall, a pair of Autotroopers were standing beside a skinny red robot with a large cranium plate and yellow glasses. It was Perceptor, Alpha Trion's consul and right-servo bot. Perceptor was speaking in his monotonic voice, "Citizens: I bring a proclamation from Iacon City: the Decepticons have invaded Cybertron." Several gasps came from the spectators and some of them moved back into their houses. "By order of his Supreme Majesty, one mech from every family must serve in the Autobot Army." Perceptor took out a datapad before saying, "The Atlas family."

An Autobot with drills on his shoulders named Dai stepped forward and bowed before taking the draft card from one of the Autotroopers.

"The Garry family," read Perceptor.

An older mech was about to take the draft guard when a younger one, one with arced shoulders said, "I will sever the Emperor in my father's place."

"You will do me proud, Sky," said the older mech.

Perceptor read the next draft card, "The One family."

"No," whispered Elita.

She watched her father hand his walking stick over to her mother and march towards Perceptor. There was a notable limp as he walked. He bowed before Perceptor and said, "I am ready to serve the Emperor." He held his hand out for his draft card.

"Father, you can't go!" The crowd gasped in astonishment as Elita pushed her way to the front. Elita turned to Perceptor and said, "Please sir, my father has already served in the Autobot Army and-"

The Autotroopers stepped forward and blocked her from going any further. "Your daughter is ill-programmed," said Perceptor, "She should know better and hold her speech synthesizer in a mech's presence."

Ratchet gave Elita a disapproving look and said, "Elita, you dishonor me." Elita would have protested but Red Alert pulled her back. Elita sighed with silence.

"Report tomorrow at the Elite Guard training facility," said Perceptor before the Autotrooper gave Ratchet his draft card. Ratchet then turned and started walking back towards the house. The crowd parted to let the old veteran through. Arcee offered his walking stick back, but Ratchet refused to take it. The three femmes of the family watched as Ratchet limped back inside.

Later that evening, Elita approached her father's room. Ratchet may have a deep sense of honor and pride in his planet, but she hoped he could be reasoned with. There was no need for him to fight in the war. However, when she reached the living room, she paused. She heard the soft hiss of metal panels sliding aside. She peeked around the corner and stared at amazement.

Ratchet was standing in front of a sizeable containment unit. It was currently opened and revealing the great treasure of the One family. The Beast Armor was the only one like it in the knowledge of anyone who knew of it. The armor had been handed down through several generations of the One family, father passing it on to sons. However, when only Elita was born, Ratchet kept it locked away. The Beast Armor was very special. Not only did it provide protection to its wearer and could easily repair itself from any danger, but it allowed its owner to take on an altmode based on an organic creature and gain the benefits from that animal.

Right now, Ratchet was wielding the spiral sword that came with the armor. Many stellar cycles ago, Ratchet had served during the last war, one that barely managed to keep an alien invasion from taking Cybertron. In those days, Ratchet was mainly a field medic tending to the wounded. Even in retirement, Ratchet has taken the role of the community's home practice doc-bot. But when the darkest hour seemed at hand, Ratchet used the Beast Armor and took on the mantle of the Dinobot Warrior. His might and cunning contributed greatly to repelling the alien threat. Even today, there was an occasional glimpse of the raptor in his optics. Ratchet wielded the sword with the long-programmed practice that had been drilled into him stellar cycles ago. For a brief moment, Elita felt that she had nothing to worry about.

Suddenly, Ratchet cried out in pain and dropped the sword. He clutched at a sparking hole in his arm. It was an old wound he had received during the war. Elita had heard many times of how Ratchet earned that wound when he first met her mother, from when he defended her from the traitorous bot, Lockdown. The wounds seemed to be contained to just his arm and broken crest, but it ran far deeper than that. There were some days when the entire left half of his body ceased to function for a couple of cycles. Elita turned away. Her father was too old, too badly-wounded to ever fight on the battlefields again. He wouldn't stand a chance against the Decepticons.

At the dinner table that night, the family was unusually quiet. Elita's embarrassment at the matchmaker's would have been enough to kill off conversation, but Ratchet being drafted made it seem insignificant. There were several long nanokliks of uncomfortable silence. Eventually, Elita couldn't stand it anymore. She slammed her cup on the table and said, "You shouldn't have to go!"

"Elita!" said Arcee.

"There are plenty of young mechs to fight for Cybertron!" cried Elita.

"It is an honor to protect my planet and my family," said Ratchet.

"So, that's it then?" snapped Elita, "So you'll die for honor?"

"I will die doing what's right!" snapped Ratchet, standing up.

"But-" started Elita.

"I know my function!" snapped Ratchet, "It's time that you learn yours!"

Elita's optics widened for a moment before she turned and ran out of the room. Arcee turned to her husband and said, "Dear, maybe we should…"

"There's no point in fighting in," said Ratchet, "Just leave her alone. It will take time for her to understand."

Outside, a thunderstorm was raining. Elita was sitting at the base of a large statue of a dragon carved from stone. Elita couldn't bear to face her father again. There was no way she could convince him otherwise of staying out of the war. She felt so useless. She couldn't impress the matchmaker and there was no way to make her father from joining the army.

She paused for a minute. That one mech, Sky, stood in for his older father to serve in the army. But Ratchet had no sons, only her… '_What am I thinking?'_ she thought, '_That's practically suicidal, in more ways than one. Besides, they would be able to tell that I'm a femme. Unless the Beast Armor could hide it…_'

She put her thinking on hold when she saw a pair of silhouettes in the window. Her parents were talking. Elita lifted her head and watched. Hopefully, her mother was trying to convince her father to stay out of the fighting. But then Arcee's shadow turned away and her body language clearly suggested sadness. Ratchet's shoulders seemed to slump before he reached over and turned out the lights. If anything could be judged from it, it was that even Arcee couldn't reason with Ratchet. Elita's face hardened as she knew the only that could be done. '_I know my function now,_' she thought before getting up.

The first thing she did was go to the family shrine. She lit a stick of incense and placed it on the burner. She prayed a silent prayer to her ancestors over what she had to do before going out. However, Chip, who had been released from his cage earlier, watched Elita and followed after her.

Elita crept into her parents' rooms. They were both in sleep mode, so Elita tiptoed as carefully as possible. She reached the table on her father's side of the bed. She took the draft card and replaced it with her flower clip. She then moved quickly and silently out of the room.

Her next stop was the living room where she opened the container for the Beast Armor. Locking the door, she then removed the decorative pieces of her own armor before putting on both the inner layer, which acted as basic cover, and the outer layer, which was the main layer, of the Beast Armor. With the armor on, she walked outside. According to the ancient files, she must select an organic beast mode to copy off of before scanning it and modifying her altmode. Her father had the advantage of being in the wilds and was able to scan the velociraptor form he used from an ancient fossil, but Elita will have to make due with whatever lifeforms were available for scanning. An antenna extended from her helmet and a bright light swept over the courtyard. As it scanned the surroundings, it showed a few holograms depicting the creatures available for scanning. Elita turned down the birds since Autobots don't normally fly with very few exceptions and it was possible for the other Autobots to mistake her for a Decepticon. The mouse, the slug, and the tortoise didn't seem like useful forms for battle, not to mention they wouldn't make very good choices on terms of aesthetics. The gecko she felt was too close to her father's raptor form.

As she was looking through the insects and other arthropods, she stopped when she looked at one creature. It was a spider, which had spun its web on one of the bushes. Elita considered for a moment. Spiders aren't very attractive creatures, particularly up close. However, they are very strong and fast for their size, capable of climbing nearly any surface, and their ability to generate silk and venom are very useful. Not to mention there was a certain mystique to the arachnids. Elita selected that form but used the features of the Beast Armor to make several alterations to it, particularly how it would affect her robot mode. It couldn't make her into a boy, but it could at least hide that she was a girl. After the necessary modifications were made, she started the download.

She winced as the Beast Armor began to fuse to her robotic body on a microscopic level. The actual armor could be detached for cleaning or medical treatment, but the organic symbiosis would take a longer time to remove. The armor bulked up around her torso, covering the feminine curves of her body with purple technorganic carapace. The gauntlets on her arms as well as her boots sprouted large claws. Her back bulged before eight pairs of spidery legs grew from it. Then her helmet covered her face, giving it the appearance of a spider's eight eyes and mandibles. All and all, her new robot mode strongly resembled that of a spider, particularly the spider's head on her chest.

Then Elita walked to the stables and opened the door. Snarl took one look at her and reared back in fright. Elita quickly went up to him and calmed him down. Once Snarl recognized her, he allowed her to saddle him up. Then the two of them walked towards the gate. They paused for a moment to look back at the house, but Elita knew what had to be done. She jumped up onto the Dinobot's back and rode out through the gates and down the road.

However, Elita had not gone unwatched. Chip had been watching her the whole time and only his small size and inability to keep up with her kept him from following her down the road. But another presence was also aware of what was going on as the eyes on the top of the stone marked for the eldest known ancestor in the shine began to glow blue as a signal was sent out from it.

That signal was focused on Red Alert who suddenly sat up in bed. She immediately knew something was wrong, but did not what it was yet. She got up and walked over to her niece's room. However, when she looked inside, the bed was empty. She quickly headed for Ratchet and Arcee's room and said, "Elita is gone!"

The married couple woke up almost instantly. "What?" said Ratchet before looking at his bedside table. Instead of the draft card, he saw the flower clip. He picked it up and muttered, "It can't be." He got out of bed and hurried towards the Beast Armor container. But when he opened it, he found it empty.

Ratchet ran out into the courtyard and yelled, "Elita!" However, the rain was still pouring and he tripped on the slick stone. He looked up to see the gate still open. "No," he whispered.

Arcee went to Ratchet's side and said, "You must go after her. She could get killed!"

Ratchet put his servo on Arcee's shoulder and said grimly, "If I reveal her, she will be." The two parents hugged each other, overcome with worry over their daughter.

Red Alert was watching from the porch and was well aware of the danger towards her niece. She sighed and whispered, "Ancestors, hear our prayer, watch over Elita."

* * *

There's another chapter. There are quite a few Transformers references in here, namely that of Dai Atlas and Sky Garry's cameo appearances. Also, the Beast Armor's a reference to Beast Wars. As you can probably guess, Ratchet's previous persona was based on Dinobot, the Predacon-turned-Maximal, not the sub-group. Elita's current technorganic form's based off of Tarantulas. Anyhow, the story's going to really pick up from here so keep an eye out for the next update and please review.


	3. Wake Up Call

**The Legend of Elita**

**Chapter 3: Wake-Up Call**

The family shrine was dark and silent. A gust of wind had blown out the burning incense. However, there was a charge in the air, like something that had started to wake up. Suddenly, the cyberglyphics on the tallest gravestone started to light up with a light blue color. Once they were all glowing, the light flowed out of it and upward. It coalesced together into a single shape and took form. The ethereal light became a ghostly figure of a robot. It appeared that in life, he had light-colored armor as well as a black helmet with a distinctive prong on the brow. The ghost floated downwards to sit on his gravestone and a staff appeared in his right hand.

Then he gestured towards the dragon-shaped incense burner and said, "Draco, awaken!" The dragon started glowing as the tray that held the ashes from burnt incense sticks started to shake, causing ashes to fall out. Then the incense burner dropped down in a cloud of fiery ashes, bouncing off of the floor three times, producing a metallic ring with each bounce.

Then a voice cried out, "I LIIIIIIVE!" A small green dragon shaped exactly like the incense burner rose up out of the ash cloud and looked around. "So tell me what mortal needs my protection, Yoketron. You just say the word and I'm there," said the dragon.

"Draco…" started Yoketron.

"Hey, let me say something," said Draco before saying, "If anyone's foolish enough to threaten our family, vengeance will be MINE!"

Yoketron sighed as Draco growled and tried to look menacing. "Draco!" snapped Yoketron, making the small dragon stop. Yoketron pointed up towards the ceiling of the shrine, where several statues, each representing an animal from the Chinese Zodiac, sat on small pedestals, "These are the family guardians, they…"

Draco sighed and said, "Protect the family."

"And you, oh demoted one…" said Yoketron, pointing at an empty pedestal between the Rabbit and Snake Guardians where the Dragon Guardian should have sat.

"I…ring the gong," said Draco dejectedly.

"That's right," said Yoketron, "Now, wake up the ancestors."

Draco sighed and picked up the gong that formed the ash collector of the incense burner along with a small stick. "One family reunion, coming right up," he said before banging on the gong while shouting, "Hey, people, people, look alive, come on, let's move it, rise and shine, it's a little too late for the beauty sleep thing, trust me." As Draco rang the gong, the other gravestones' cyberglyphcis started glowing and the light from them formed into other ghosts which sat on their gravestones.

One of the ghosts, an old femme, shouted, "I knew it! I knew it! That Elita was a troublemaker from the start!"

The mech's ghost next to her said, "Well, don't look at me. She gets it from your side of the family!"

Another older femme's ghost said, "She's just trying to help her father."

A ghost holding a calculator appeared next to her and started calculating, "But if she's discovered, Ratchet-One will be forever shamed, dishonor will come to the family, traditional values will disintegrate!"

A ghost of a farmer bot holding a pitchfork added, "Not to mention, they'll lose the farm."

The first femme ghost shouted, "My children never caused such trouble! They all became circuit-setters!"

"Well, we can't all be circuit-setters!" countered the mech's ghost right beside.

"No, your great-granddaughter had to be a cross-dresser!" snapped another femme's ghost. The ancestors' ghosts all started arguing loudly with each other. Yoketron sighed as they each gave their own opinion. Draco just sat on his tail, reading from a newspaper.

Suddenly, one of the mech ghost cried out, "Let a guardian bring her back!"

Draco saw this as a good reason to sneak away but was snatched by the second mech's ghost to speak. "Yeah, awaken the most cunning!" He held Draco up to the Tiger Guardian statue and Draco prepared to ring the gong.

But before he could strike, he was snatched by the calculating bot and held towards the Rabbit Guardian, "No, the swiftest!"

But then Draco was snatched by another old femme's ghost and held towards the Monkey Guardian, "No, send the wisest!"

Draco was getting annoyed by this passing around and was about to ring when Yoketron yelled, "Silence!" The femme's ghost dropped Draco with a clang. "We must send the most powerful of all," said Yoketron, indicating out the window towards the dragon statue that Elita sat under last night.

A light chuckling caught the ancestors' attention and they looked towards the empty pedestal where Draco had climbed up on. "Ok, ok, I get the gyp, I'll go," said Draco. The ancestors stared at him for a second before they burst out laughing. "You don't think I can do it?" asked Draco, "What this, then." He breathed in deeply and blew. Out of his mouth came a small ember which fizzled in midair. "Hot stuff! I'm pretty impressive, aren't I? The fact I've never singed nobody proves no point."

"You had your chance to protect the One family," said Yoketron.

"Your misguidance led Sentinel One to disaster!" snapped an old femme's ghost.

One of the ancestor's ghost, a mech who was holding his disembodied head with an enormous chin, grumbled, "Yeah, thanks a lot."

Draco gave the others a dubious look and asked, "And your point is?"

Yoketron floated up to him and said, "The point is, we will be sending a _real_ dragon to retrieve Elita."

Draco looked shocked. "What? But, I'm a real dragon!" he shouted, grabbing Yoketron's head.

Yoketron removed himself from Draco's grasp. "You are not worthy of this spot," he said as he pulled Draco off of the pedestal, with a little resistance from Draco's clinging. "Now, awaken the Great Stone Dragon!" He threw Draco out of the shrine, making him skid along the floor as he went out.

Draco stuck his head back inside and asked, "So you'll get back to me on the job, then?" His gong was thrown at him and hit him in the face. The stunned dragon fell over as Yoketron rubbed his brow with annoyance.

Draco grumbled to himself as he walked down the stairs. "Just one chance, is that too much ask?" he muttered to himself, "It's not like I can get him killed again." He walked up to the dragon statue and started ringing his gong. "Yo, Rocky, wake up!" shouted Draco, "You gotta go fetch Elita!" However, the dragon statue remained motionless. Draco walked in front of the statue and threw his stick in front of it. "C'mon boy, go get her, c'mon," he said, talking like the dragon was a dog. However, the statue still didn't respond.

Draco growled as he used his gong to climb up the statue. He looked at it in the face and snarled before grumbling and climbing over to the side of its head. He shouted into the ear before banging his gong against it, "Hello? HELLOOOOO? Hello!" Suddenly, the ear snapped off and nearly went flying. Draco quickly grabbed the ear and put it back where it was. "Uh oh," he said. Cracks quickly went up the statue towards the head. In a few seconds, the entire dragon statue collapsed.

Draco coughed and waved the dust out of his face. He looked across towards the disembodied dragon head and tapped on it. "Uh, Stoney, Stoney? Oh man, they're gonna kill me!" muttered Draco.

Suddenly, Yoketron's voice came from the shrine, "Great Stone Dragon, have you awakened!"

Draco quickly grabbed the head and hurried up the hill. He held it up in front of his head and popped out from behind a bush. "Uh, uh, yes, I just woke up!" he called, "Good morning! I am the Great Stone Dragon! I will go forth and fetch Elita! Did I mention I was the Great Stone Dragon?"

Fortunately, Yoketron seemed to have fallen for it. "Go, the fate of the One family rest in your claws," called Yoketron.

"Don't even worry about it!" called Draco, "I will not lose face!" However, the dragon's head was pretty unwieldy and Draco had just lost his balance. He ended up rolling back down the hill, with the stone head squashing him several times before it came to a rest back at the rubble pile with Draco under it. Draco groaned and muttered, "Ooh, I'm gonna feel that tomorrow." With a great heave, Draco managed to flip the statue's head off of him. "This is great, now what?" said Draco, "I'm doomed! And all cause Miss 'Man' decided to take her little drag show on the road."

Just then, Chip hopped up onto the head of the ruined statue. He had overheard a great deal of what was going on, not to mention seeing the 'Great Stone Dragon' crumble. "You know, you could always go get her yourself," said Chip, "That'd help bridge things with the ancestors."

"Go get her?" said Draco, "Are you crazy. After this great stone Humpty Dumpty mess, even getting her back will never get me back in the temple." Suddenly, his expression brightened and said, "Wait, that's it! If I make Elita a war hero, they'd be begging me to get back to work! That's the master plan! Oh Draco, you clever dragon." Draco quickly started running towards the gate.

Chip watched him go before running after him. "Hey! Wait for me!" he called.

"Hey, what makes you think you're coming?" asked Draco before running out the gate.

"Cause I'm lucky," said Chip.

Draco looked back and said, "You're lucky?" He laughed and asked, "Do I look like a sucker to you?"

Chip jumped out through the gate and remarked, "A loser."

Draco frowned and said, "Hey, what do you mean 'a loser'? How I pop off one of your arms and threw it across the yard, then who's a loser? Me or you?"

"Still be you," said Chip.

"Oh, you better start running now," growled Draco. Chip wiggled his eyebrow and started running down the road with Draco following after him.

Just then, Arcee and Red Alert walked out into the garden. "I'm so worried for Elita," said Arcee.

"I know, I know," said Ratchet, "I wouldn't want to send her into battle if she were really a boy. But there's nothing we can do now except wait and hope." Just then, he noticed the remains of the 'Great Stone Dragon'. "Oh slag, how did that happen?" he exclaimed.

"Maybe lightning hit it last night," said Arcee.

"Or maybe the wind blew it over," said Ratchet, "I tell you, this thing was the biggest waste of credits I ever spent. It wasn't even accurate at all."

"You'd think that they'd at least build them to last," said Arcee.

"Yeah, what kind of cheep rock do they make statues out of these days?" said Ratchet before picking up a piece and crushing it in his fingers too easily. "Eh, I surprised this fake even lasted this long. We're probably better off without this dud anyway."

"Why do you call it a dud?" asked Arcee.

"I don't know, it just doesn't seem as good as those statues we have in the shrine," said Ratchet, "A cheep imitation at best. I don't think anyone will miss this."

Meanwhile, in the wilderness in the northern hemisphere of Cybertron, the Decepticons were on the move. While they all had the ability to fly in robot mode, the anti-aircraft cannons positioned widely over the planet would have shot down anything that didn't give off an Autobot energy signature above a certain altitude level. So the Decepticons remained in vehicle mode to better mask their energy signatures. They also flew low to the ground because some of the Decepticons had ground-based vehicle modes and they had to slow down for them to be able to keep up. Nevertheless, the Decepticons were making rapid progress, destroying any village that happened to be in their way.

The Decepticon army was passing through a slightly rocky terrain that was covered in fog. Suddenly, the space jet in the lead slowed down and started hovering. The Decepticons behind it slowed down and stopped as well. A short signal from the space jet sent a command to three of Decepticons. With a rapid clicking of joints, the second-in-command, Starscream, and the lieutenants Lugnut and Blitzwing changed into robot mode. The three of them walked over to some large bushes growing under some trees nearby. After about a minute of searching, a pair of Autobots were thrown out into the open. "Cyber-Ninjas," said Blitzwing, "Ze vere tracking us." His blue face spun around to a red one and he said, "I should smash zem into cannon folder!" Then his space spun around to a black one and he said, "Ooh, I vant to see ze pretty firevurks. Can I? Can I? AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

The space jet hovered towards the Cyber-Ninjas. As he went, it slowly shifted into robot mode. His tall mighty form towered over them, with his pointy helmet giving him even more height.

"Megatron," whispered the white ninja bot.

The cyber-hawk, Lazerbeak flew down and perched on Megatron's shoulder. Megatron knelt down and looked at the two scouts. He straightened the armor on the white bot and said, "Nice work, gentlemen. You found the Decepticon army." The other Decepticons, who were already in robot mode, laughed at their leader's joke.

The black ninja bot, who was wearing extra armor that made him resemble a samurai, said, "The Emperor will stop you."

"Stop me?" asked Megatron, "He invited me." He picked up the ninja bot by his neck and held him up high. "By building his Great Wall, he challenged my strength. Well, I'm here to play his game." He pulled out his sword, a strong and sharp blade made of unbreakable tironium steel with a unique design in that it had an empty space in the middle of the blade. The ninja bot froze in fright as Megatron held it close to his neck.

Then Megatron threw the ninja bot and said, "Go! Tell your Emperor to send his strongest armies! I'm ready." The two ninja bots quickly ran into the fog as fast as they could. Megatron rubbed his chin as he watched them run. Then he gave a nasty smile and said, "How many bots does it take to deliver a message?"

Starscream grinned sadistically as he powered up his null ray cannon on his right arm and aimed. "One," he said.

* * *

There's the next chapter and the introduction of the main source of comic relief for this story, being portrayed by my original character, Draco. Originally, I was considering to have Waspinator fill in the role of Mushu, but I decided Draco worked better. I threw in that jibe at Sentinel Prime as a reference to the second Headmaster episode in Transformers Animated and also Sentinel's a jerk. I threw in the extra part about the 'Great Stone Dragon' to sorta justify 'Mushu' going instead. Besides, it was kinda obvious in the movie that it was a dud.I decided to go with Megatron's Cybertronian body for this story since he doesn't need his sword(s) to fly with. The two Cyber-Ninja scouts were Jazz and Prowl in case you didn't figure it out. It's up to you to decide which of them died, since they won't appear in the story anymore. But if you know the show, I'd think you know. The next chapter ought to be up soon and it'll be longer than this one. So keep an eye out for it and please review.

EDIT: I actually didn't find out until later, but both the First Fa Ancestor and Yoketron were voiced by the same actor, George Takei, AKA Mr. Sulu from Star Trek. What a fortunate coincidence.


	4. I'll Make a Bot Out of You

**The Legend of Elita**

**Chapter 4: I'll Make a Bot Out of You**

Elita and Snarl were able to find the Elite Guard training camp quite easily. However, they didn't go in quite yet. Elita knew she'd have to blend in with the other bots to have a chance of surviving the war, much less be recognized as a girl. Currently, she and Snarl were in a small bamboo grove where Elita was practicing in front of Snarl.

"Ok, how about this?" asked Elita before putting on her best man's voice, "Excuse me, where do I sign in? Ah, I see you have a sword. I have one too. They're very manly and tough." She attempted to pull her sword out, but it slipped out of her hands and dropped onto the ground. Snarl rolled on the ground, making a soft bellowing sound that was clearly laughter. His laughing stopped when a boot clunked against his head. Elita stomped over and snapped, "I'm working on it!" She sighed and put her book back on. "Who am I kidding? It's going to take a miracle for me to get into the army."

Suddenly, an echoing voice cried, "Did I hear someone ask for a miracle?" She spun around to see a serpentine shadow illuminated against a rock by flames and the same voice cried out, "Let me hear you go 'Awwwww…'!"

"Ah!" screamed Elita and hid behind a rock with Snarl.

"That's close enough!" said the shadow.

Elita peeked out from behind the rock and whispered, "A ghost."

"Get ready, Eltia, cause your 17th salvation's at hand. For I have been sent by your ancestors…" The shadow paused when a small shadow appeared and started imitating him with shadow puppets. The shadow kicked the smaller one and continued, "To guide you through your masquerade." Then the shadow ducked down for a moment and Elita could have swore she heard the voice whisper, "C'mon, if you're gonna stay, you're gonna work." Then the flames flared up higher and the shadow rose up again. "So head my word, for if the army finds out you're a girl, the penalty is death!"

"Who are you?" asked Elita.

"Who am I? Who am I? I am the Guardian of Lost Souls! I am the powerful, the pleasurable, the indestructible Draco." Elita's high expectations plummeted significantly when a small green creature stepped out from behind the rock was the shadow was projecting from. "Heh, not bad, huh?" said Draco Snarl disagreed and attempted to trample Draco under his front hooves. Elita quickly pulled him back. Surprisingly, Draco wasn't hurt at all. Although he did look pretty dazed. "Someone get the license plate of that dump truck?" he groaned.

Elita picked Draco up and said, "Uh, my ancestors send a little lizard to help me?"

Draco squirmed out of her grip and said, "Hey, dragon, _dragon_, not lizard. I don't do that fly-catching thing." He stuck out his forked tongue at Elita and hissed.

"You're, um, er…" started Elita.

Draco climbed a nearby bamboo and asked, "Intimidating? Awe-inspiring?"

"Tiny," said Elita.

Draco looked annoyed for a second before saying, "Of course. I'm travel-sized for your convenience. If I were my real size, your cow hear would die of fright." He patted Snarl on his front horn, only for the Dinobot to snap at his hand. "Down, Bessie," said Draco. He turned back to Elita and added, "And my powers are beyond your mortal imagination. For instance, my eyes can see straight through your armor."

Elia's cheeks flushed as she covered her upper chest with one arm and slapped Draco with the other. Draco yipped and fell onto the ground. He sat up and said, "Alright, that's it! Dishonor! Dishonor on your whole family!" He pointed at Chip and said make a note of this. Chip nodded and started writing on a leaf. Draco continued with his rant, "Dishonor on you, dishonor on your cow…"

"Stop, stop," said Elita, "I'm sorry. I'm just nervous. I never done anything like this before."

"Then you're going to have to trust me," said Draco, "And don't you slap me no more. You clear on that?" Elita nodded. "Alright…" Draco's expression lightened up and he said, "Okey-dokey, let's get this show on the road. Chip, get the bags. Let's move it, heifer." Snarl growled at Draco. Clearly the Dinobot was not impressed with the so-called 'guardian'.

Elita walked to the outside of the camp and looked inside. She could see several mechs doing different things from sharpening swords to fixing small firearms. Elita gulped nervously and backed away a bit. Draco popped out of the backpack of her armor and said, "Hey, hey, there's nothing to worry about. You just listen to me and you'll fit right in. Ok, this is it. Let's show them how mech you are. Shoulders back, chest high, feet apart, head up, and strut!" Elita awkwardly walked into the camp, trying to follow Draco's instruction. Several bots stopped what they were doing and stared at the odd way that Elita was walking.

Elita passed by another pair of mechs. One of them was burnishing his olfactory receptors with his fingers while another was picking gross-looking things stuck in his foot with a pair of tweezers. "Beautiful, isn't it?" said Draco.

Elita wrinkled her newly-organic nose and said, "They're disgusting."

"No, they're mechs," said Draco, "And you're going to have act just like them, so pay attention."

Just then, Elita went around a corner and saw a small group of mechs. An orange mech with a body-design similar to Ratchet's said, "Check this out." Silver metal quickly covered his body. "This mod will protect me from harm."

The other two mechs, a short one with green and orange armor, a dome-shaped head, and one optic blackened and a leaner one wearing yellow armor and two small horns on his helmet, looked at each other for a few nanokliks. Then the shorter one punched the armored mech and sent him flying. The yellow mech laughed and said, "I hope you can get your money back."

Elita grimaced and said, "I don't think I can do this."

"Don't worry," said Draco, "It's all attitude. Be tough like this guy here."

Elita looked at the short mech who snorted loudly before spitting on the ground. He looked at Elita with his good eye and said, "What are you looking at?"

"Punch him, it's how mechs say 'hello'," whispered Draco.

Elita waited until the short mech had turned around before punching him. The short mech was knocked into a large and round green mech with large pieces of kibble on his shoulder armor and a pronounced jaw. The bigger mech picked up the short one and said, "Hey, Brawn, you made a friend. I told you it wouldn't take too long to find some new friends here."

"Good, now slap him on the behind, they like that," said Draco.

Elita shrugged and slapped Brawn on the skidplate. "Hey!" snapped Brawn before grabbed the front of Elita's collar and pulling her in close to his face, "I'm gonna hit you so hard, it'll make your ancestors dizzy!"

Fortunately, the big green mech picked up Brawn and said, "Brawn, relax and chant with me." Brawn just growled, his face turning red. "Ya Ma Fo Du Wa Me To Wa…" chanted the big mech, causing Elita and Draco to stare at him oddly.

"Ya Mat Fo Du Wa, blah, bleh," muttered Brawn, his anger puttering out and his face going back to its normal color.

"Feel better?" asked the big mech.

"Yeah, Bulkhead…" muttered Brawn before Bulkhead put him down. Elita decided it was best to just walk away now. "Ah, you ain't worth my time, chicken boy," said Brawn dismissively.

However, Draco popped out of Elita's backpack and yelled, "Chicken boy? Say that to my face, you limp noodle!"

Draco was able to slip back into her backpack before anyone spotted him, but Brawn mistook his insult to be coming from Elita. He growled and pulled him towards her. She managed to duck just in time and his punches only hit the yellow mech behind her, blackening an optic and punching out several teeth. "Oops, sorry, Bumblebee," said Brawn.

Then Brawn noticed Elita trying to sneak away. "Hey!" he yelled before reaching for her. However, Bumblebee kicked him into Bulkhead before leaping up on top of them and stared fighting him.

While the other mechs were busy, Elita decided it would be a good time to make herself scarce. She ran away as fast as she could, but then she heard Bumblebee yell, "Look, there he goes!" She put on the speed and ran into the robot chicken hut. Brawn, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead chased after her, but somehow, they missed her and ran through the chicken hut. Just then, Brawn noticed the line of bots up ahead and quickly skidded to a stop. Bumblebee narrowly stopped in time to avoid bumping into him. But Bulkhead's brakes weren't as good and he ended up bumping into the back of the line and sending every bot forward like a chain of dominos, which culminated with the knocking over of the chef bot and upturning the big pot of fuel that was going to be their lunch.

Elita walked out of the chicken tent only to find a large group of mechs covered with fuel and angrily glaring at her. Elita grinned nervously and said, "Hey, guys…"

Inside the officers' tent, Ultra Magnus was going over the military plans. Perceptor had been assigned as his advisor until the Decepticon threat was over. The red Autobot sat at Ultra Magnus' right side. Across from the other side of the holo-map sat a younger mech with red torso armor, blue boots, gloves, and helmet, and the Elite Guard insignia emblazoned on his left shoulder.

Ultra Magnus pointed towards the mountains in the North. "The Decepticons have struck here, here, and here," he said, "As we predicted, they're making their way south towards Iacon. Fortunately, they're keeping low to the ground, which works in our advantage. From what we can tell, they'll be heading towards the Tygun Span. The weather in the mountains north of Iacon will prevent them from flying over them and Tyger Span is the safest and quickest way to cross it. I shall take the main troops there and stop Megatron before he destroys this village."

"An excellent strategy, sir," said Perceptor, "There is a high percentage of its success. I approve of it."

"You will stay and train the new recruits. When Perceptor believes you are ready, you will join us…" Ultra Magnus paused and handed a solarium axe to the young mech, "Optimus Prime."

Optimus took the axe and in surprise, "Prime?"

"This is a massive shift of responsibilities, General," said Perceptor, "It would be more logical to select a soldier who has more experience."

"Number 1 in his class, extensive knowledge of training techniques," here, a little bit of pride shifted into Ultra's voice, "And impressive military lineage. I believe Optimus Prime will do an excellent job."

"Oh, I will," said Optimus excitedly, "I won't let you down. This is, I mean…" Optimus regained his composure and said, "Yes, sir."

"Very well then," said Ultra, standing up, "We shall toast Cyberton's victory at Iacon. I shall expect a full report in three weeks."

Perceptor held the flap open as Ultra walked out. Then he turned to Optimus and said, "And I won't leave anything out." He then exited the tent.

Optimus headed towards the entrance and then paused for a minute. "Optimus Prime," he said to himself while placing his axe into the clip on his back, "Leader of Cybertron's finest troops. No, the greatest troops of all time." He chuckled to himself before exiting the tent.

His enthusiasm quickly diminished when he saw his 'troops' engaged in a massive fist/food fight outside. The only one not seen fighting was Bulkhead, who was chowing down on some food that was being thrown. A decidedly dazed-looking Bot walked out of the brawl and paused when he saw his commanding officers. He saluted before falling onto the ground, out cold. "Most impressive," said Perceptor in a rather sarcastic tone.

Ultra Magnus stepped over the Bot and to where the Autotroopers were standing. He turned back to Optimus Prime and said, "Good luck, Captain. Autobots, transform and roll out!" He and the Autotroopers transformed to vehicle mode and drove out of the camp and up towards the mountains.

Optimus watched them go and said softly, "Good luck, father."

Then Perceptor and Optimus turned their attention back to the brawl. Perceptor has a slightly smug look on his face as he said, "Day 1…"

Optimus hardened his expression. He wasn't going to have his career as a Prime start like this. He walked forward and shouted, "SOLDIERS!"

The other bots stopped fighting and stared at Optimus. All action stopped, except for Brawl punching his opponent one last time. Then they all stood back and pointed at a curled-up Elita while shouting, "HE STARTED IT!"

Elita had decided from the start that she didn't want to get caught up in the fight and so she did the relatively-cowardly thing and just hid in the middle and hoped it would blow over. She eventually peeked out from between her arms to see the new captain standing over her with a disapproving look on his face. Elita quickly got back up onto her stabilizing servos and brushed off the dirt on her armor. Optimus glared at her and said, "I don't need anyone causing trouble in my camp."

"Sorry," said Elita nervously before remembering the persona she's supposed to put on. "Uh, I mean, sorry you had to see that," said Elita with a deeper voice and softly punching Optimus' upper arm, "But you know how it is when you get those manly urges. Then you just gotta kill something, fix things, cook outdoors…"

"What's your name?" demanded Optimus.

Elita's bravado quickly deflated. '_Slag, I could I forget to think up of a name? What, did I think that I could pass off as Elita? I need to think of something fast._' "I, uh, uh…" she started.

Perceptor stepped in at that. "Your commanding officer just asked you a question," he said.

"I've got a name," said Elita, "And it's a boy's name too."

Draco quickly tried to think of something that would work. "Uh, Bumblebee, how about Bumblebee?" asked Draco.

"His name is Bumblebee," muttered Elita, nodding slightly at Bumblebee.

"I didn't asked for his name, I asked for yours," said Optimus, misinterpreting Elita's response.

"Er, Chu!" said Draco.

"Ah, Chu," said Elita.

"Ah-Chu?" asked Optimus.

"Geseundheit," whispered Draco before chuckling, "I crack myself up."

"Draco…" muttered Elita.

"Draco?" asked Optimus.

"No," said Elita.

"Then what is it?" demanded Optimus.

"Blagarak! Blagarak, he was my best friend growing up," whispered Draco.

"It's Blagarak," said Elita.

"Blagarak?" asked Optimus.

Draco suddenly paused and muttered, "Of course, Blagarak did steal my girl-" Elita reached behind and shoved Draco back into her backpack.

"Yes, my name is Blagarak," said 'Blagarak '.

"Let me see your conscription notice," said Optimus. 'Blagarak' quickly pulled out the draft card and handed it to Optimus. Optimus read and said, "Ratchet-One? The Ratchet-One?"

"I was not aware that Ratchet-One had a son," said Perceptor.

"Uh, he doesn't talk about me much," said Blagarak before snorting and trying to spit, but due to a great lack of experience, the spittle was left dangling from 'his' lips.

"I can see why," whispered Perceptor to Optimus, "The boy's an absolute lunatic." The other recruits just snickered at Blagarak's pitiful attempt.

Then Optimus addressed the rest of them, "Ok, gentlemen, thanks to your new friend, Blagarak, you'll spend tonight cleaning up every drop of oil. And tomorrow, the real work again." The other recruits, particularly the trio that Elita just met just grumbled and gave annoyed glares at Blagarak.

"Hmm… we're gonna have to work on your people skills," said Draco. Elita sighed, this was only the first day and she was already miserable.

The next morning, Elita was still asleep in her personal cabin. She decided to get one apart from the others both to get some privacy and to avoid her irked platoonmates. Chip was sleeping on a corner of her cushion, deeply asleep. Just then, Draco picked him up and tapping on his digital screen before pressing down on his head, causing him to produce a sound like an electric alarm clock, waking both him and Elita up.

The first thing Elita saw was Draco's face. "Alright, rise and shine, sleeping beauty. C'mon, up, up, up!" Elita groaned and laid back down on her bed. Draco yanked her covers off, causing her to wince from the abrupt chilliness. "Get your clothes on, get ready, got breakfast for you," called Draco. She slowly sat up and stretched. Draco jumped up onto her lap with a bowl. "Look, you get porridge and it's happy to see you," said Draco.

Chip popped out of the porridge about where the nose would be in the face made of fried eggs for eyes and bacon for a smile. "And it's nice and warm too," he said.

"Hey, get out of there!" snapped Draco, tossing Chip out, "You're gonna make people sick!"

"Am I late?" asked a groggy Elita.

However, Draco started shoveling spoonfuls into Elita's mouth. "No time to talk," he said, "Now remember, it's your first day of training so listen to your teacher and no fighting. Play nice with other kids, unless, of course, when other kids want to fight, then you gotta kick the other kid's butt."

"But I don't want to kick the other kid's butt," said Elita, though it was bit hard to tell since she hasn't swallowed yet.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," said Draco, "Now let's see your war face." Elita just stared at him with her cheeks bulging with porridge. "Oh, sure, that'll scare the wrath of Primus into Decepticon sparks," said Draco sarcastically, "I think my bunny slippers just ran for cover. C'mon, scare me, girl!"

Elita swallowed her food and snarled at Draco, knocking him off her lap. "There, that's my tough-looking warrior! That's what I'm talking about! Now get out there and make me proud!" Just then, Snarl just started snorted and grunting frantically. Draco looked at him and asked, "What do you mean 'the troops just left'?"

"They what?" asked Elita before quickly getting her light armor on and rushing out.

Draco ran to the doorway, dragging her spiral sword and shouted, "Wait, you forgot your sword!" Then he sniffed and said, "My little baby's off to destroy people."

Chip patted him on the back and said, "They grow up so fast."

Meanwhile, the troops had all assembled at the main training ground. After their breakfast, they were engaging in a little horseplay. "Order, order!" snapped Perceptor.

"Oh, I'd like some fried aluminum noodles!" called one soldier.

"And I'll have the energon farmer's platter!" called Bulkhead.

Perceptor's expression soured and said, "The obvious nature of that pun is entirely demeaning."

Just then, Bumblebee noticed 'Blagarak' running up to them. "Looks like our new friend slept in this morning," he said before Blagarak stopped besides them. "Morning, Blagarak," said Bumblebee, "Are you hungry?"

"Yeah…" said Brawn before grabbing Blagarak's front, "Because I owe you a knuckle sandwich."

Elita winced and prepared for the punch but it was stopped by a cry of 'SOLDIERS!' The troops quickly fell into line. Optimus stepped in front of them, wearing a light jacket. "You will assemble swiftly and silently every morning," said Optimus before taking off his jacket and picking up an energy arrow, "Anyone who acts otherwise will answer to me."

"Ooh…tough guy," muttered Brawn sarcastically.

Optimus paused before saying, "Brawn." The other soldiers stepped back, leaving a surprised Brawn standing alone. Optimus fixed a metal spike to his energy bow and drew it back. Brawn's working optic widened when it appeared to be aiming at him. Then Optimus fired and the spike flew over and buried itself at the top of a pillar. "Thank you for volunteering," said Optimus to Brawn, "Retrieve the spike."

Brawn growled with annoyance and muttered, "I'll get the spike, pretty boy. And I'll do it with my shirt on." He walked over to the pillar and got ready to climb.

"Hold on a moment," said Optimus, "You seem to be missing something." He waved his hand and Perceptor walked over, straining from having to carry an apparently heavy box. Optimus opened the box and pulled out a pair of steel discs on bands. "This represents discipline," said Optimus, putting a weight in one of Brawn's hands and causing it to crash to the ground. "And this represent strength," said Optimus, putting the other weight in Brawn's other hand, causing the rest of him to crash onto the ground and making the troops snicker. "You need both to reach the spike," said Optimus.

Brawn got back onto his stabilizing servos and looked up. The spike was at the top of the pillar and was a long ways up. However, Brawn jumped up and tried to climb his way up. He got a short distance before the weight of the discs started to pull him down. He tried to hold on with his teeth, but that just caused a small gash to appear in the side of the pillar as he was pulled down.

The rest of them didn't fare much better. Bumblebee ended up crashing on his head. Bulkhead fell down with such force it caused the pillar to briefly pop out of the ground. Blagarak just landed roughly on 'his' butt. Optimus sighed with derision and muttered, "We have a long way to go." He then tossed out bo staffs for the soldiers. They all grabbed theirs, but Brawn grabbed the one meant Blagarak. 'He' glared at Brawn for a few seconds before Brawn tripped 'him' up with the staff and tossed it down to 'him' afterwards.

Optimus:  
_Let's get down to business  
To defeat the Cons  
Did they send me daughters  
When I asked for sons?  
You're the saddest bunch  
I ever met  
But you can bet  
Before we're through  
Mister, I'll make a Bot  
out of you_  
Bulkhead:

Tranquil as a forest  
But on fire within  
Once you find your center  
you are sure to win  
You're a spineless, pale  
pathetic lot  
And you haven't got a clue  
Somehow I'll make a Bot  
out of you

Bulkhead:  
_I'm never gonna catch  
my breath_

Brawn:  
_Say good-bye to those  
who knew me_

Bumblebee:  
_Boy, was I a fool in school  
for cutting gym  
_

Draco:  
_This guy's got 'em  
scared to death  
_

Elita:  
_Hope he doesn't see  
right through me  
_

Bulkhead:  
_Now I really wish that I  
knew how to swim  
_

Optimus:  
(Be a Bot)  
_We must be swift as  
the coursing river  
_(Be a man)  
_With all the force  
of a great typhoon  
_(Be a Bot)  
_With all the strength  
of a raging fire  
Mysterious as the  
dark side of the moon  
_  
_Time is racing toward us  
till the Cons arrive  
Heed my every order  
and you might survive  
You're unsuited for  
the rage of war  
So pack up, go home  
you're through  
How could I make a Bot  
out of you?  
_  
(Be a Bot)  
_We must be swift as  
the coursing river  
_(Be a Bot)  
_With all the force  
of a great typhoon  
_(Be a Bot)  
_With all the strength  
of a raging fire  
Mysterious as the  
dark side of the moon  
_  
(Be a Bot)  
_We must be swift as  
the Coursing river  
_(Be a Bot)  
_With all the force  
of a great typhoon  
_(Be a Bot)  
_With all the strength  
of a raging fire  
Mysterious as the  
dark side of the moon_

_

* * *

_

There's another chapter, and one I'm sure you've all been waiting for. Here we introduce the rest of the hero gang. Optimus was an easy pick for Li Shang. Sentinel had merits, but his role as the decapitated Fa ancestor worked to well, plus he's a jerk. I briefly considered Grimlock, but then I remember Grimlock's too dim to be an effective trainer. I nearly went with my OC, Scorponok, but I decided to stick with actual characters from the show. The parts for the trio virtualy filled themselves. Bumblebee and Bulkhead were naturaly choices for Ling and Chien-Po. Yao was a bit trickier, but when I first saw "Transwarped", he immediately reminded me of Yao in stockiness, strength, and attitude. There was just a matter of giving him a 'black eye'. By the way, in case you were wondering or couldn't guess, the Bot he punched was Ironhide. The Tygun Pass is an actual road to Iacon in established Transformers fiction, though it's probably not the same as in this story. The next chapter should be up in the next couple of days. Stay alert and please review.


	5. Clean Getaway

**The Legend of Elita**

**Chapter 5: Clean Getaway**

In the wild parts of Northern Cybertron, the Decepticons had taken a brief pause from their pillaging and ransacking. In a large pine forest, Megatron sat at the top of one of the tallest trees. The Decepticon leader scanned the skies until he heard a shrill cry. He looked up to see Laserbeak returning with something small clutched in his claws. The cyberhawk flew over Megatron and dropped his bundle. Megatron snatched it in his servo and looked at it. It was a simple cloth doll, obviously a femme's toy. Megatron held it up close to his face and examined for a few cycles.

Then Megatron dropped down from the tree and approached his top mechs. He tossed the doll over to Lugnut and asked, "What do you make from this doll?"

Lugnut's large optic spotted small granules of black dust on the doll, vegetable matter and fragrant. "Black pine…from the high mountains," said Lugnut.

Shockwave took the doll before his long servos picked out a small piece of white metal. "White armor shard, Autotroopers," said Shockwave.

Blitzwing took the doll and sniffed it, "Energon fumes, from cannons."

"This doll came from a small village at the Tygun Pass," said Megatron, "The Imperial Army will be waiting for us there."

"We can avoid them easily," said Starscream.

"No," said Megatron, "The quickest way to the Emperor is through the Pass." He then had a nasty smirk on his face as he took the doll, "Besides, the little girl will be missing her doll." He squeezed his fist around the toy. "We should return it to her."

The training had a less than stellar start. The inexperienced recruits found the training assignments to be very hard to accomplish. As a matter of fact, more than a few of them were getting ready to quit. But then Blagarak managed to figure out how to climb the pole to get to the spike. Using the weights like a lumberjack's sling, he managed to climb all the way up and get the spike. After that, moral picked up significantly in the camp and motivated the soldiers to perform better. Of course, all that training was succeeded through sweat and hard work, which left a bit of an aroma on them.

Draco was pacing back and forth with nervousness at the pond's edge, which served as the unofficial swimming hole/public bath for the troops. "Man, oh man, this is a bad idea," he said, "What if somebody sees you?"

Elita, who was currently undressing behind some tall grass, said to Draco, "Just because I look like a mech doesn't mean I have to smell like one."

Draco covered his eyes as Elita stepped towards the water. "So some of the guys don't change their socks, picky, picky, picky," he said, "Actually, I kinda like the smell of accumulated oil." He heard a splash and reopened his eyes. Elita's surfaced from the pond and she sighed with relief. "Ok, ok, you're clean now," said Draco, holding up a towel for her, "Now get out before you get rusty and stuff."

"Draco, if you're so worried, go stand watch," said Elita.

Draco grumbled as he walked back to Chip. "Yeah, yeah," he muttered before saying in a feminine voice, 'Stand watch, Draco, while I blow our secrets with my stupid girly habits.'" Draco snorted and grumbled to Chip, "Hygiene."

Then Chip looked over his shoulder and said, "Uh, Draco."

"What? What's going-" stared Draco before three shapes rushed by with gleeful whoops and a pair of underwear fell onto him. Draco pulled the underwear off his head and saw three mechs stripping and jumping into the pond. "Oh no," said Draco, "There are a couple of things I know they're bound to notice!" He quickly ran after them, tossing the underwear over his shoulder and onto Chip.

"Ugh, aah!" groaned Chip from under the underwear, "Oh, the stench. Why? This doesn't even make sense. Robots don't wear underwear. Ooooooohh…bleh." Chip apparently passed out from the disgust.

Elita was getting some grime out of her arm joints when she heard the mechs coming. She quickly ducked most of her head under the water. The first two made plenty of splashes when they came in, but then the third shouted, "Cannonball!" and jumped in, creating a small tidal wave. Elita groaned. '_Of all the times for those three to take a bath,_' she thought to her face behind a lily pad.

But unfortunately, Brawn spotted her. "Hey, Blagarak!" he called.

"Oh, hi guys," said Elita in her best mech's voice, "I didn't know you were here. I was just washing but now I'm clean and now I'm gonna go. Bye-bye."

"Hey, wait a minute," said Bumblebee, swimming over, "I know we were jerks to you before. But what with you did with the pole, I think we should start over. Hi, I'm Bumblebee."He reached over and shook her servo.

"Nice to meet you," said Elita, pulling her servo out of Bumblebee's. She moved away but backed into Bulkhead.

"And I'm Bulkhead," said Bulkhead.

"Hello, Bulkhead," said Elita nervously.

Then Elita heard Brawn climbing up on a rock sticking out of the pond and looked away. "And I am Brawn, king of the rock. And there's nothing you girls can do about it."

"Oh yeah?" said Bumblebee, "I think Blagarak and I can take you."

"I really don't want to take him anywhere," said Eltia, keeping her optics away from the rock.

"Blagarak, we have to fight!" said Bumblebee.

"Uh, no we don't," said Elita, "We could just…close our eyes and swim around."

Bumblebee started dragging her back, Elita struggling to remain mostly underwater. "C'mon," said Bumblebee, "Don't be such a- AH! Something bit me!"

Draco surfaced nearby and spat. "Bleh, what a nasty flavor," he said.

Bumblebee saw him, but fortunately didn't notice his horns, ears, or arms. "SNAKE!" he yelled before heading for the rock. The other two mechs quickly panicked and started climbing up the rock. Elita took advantage of the moment and whistled loudly. Snarl, who was grazing nearby, quickly ran over to her and provided cover as she got out of the pond.

The trio had finally calmed down and were now all sitting on the rock. "Some king of the rock," said Bumblebee. Brawn just punched him. "Ow!" said Bumblebee before falling into water.

"Phew," said Elita as she wrapped a towel around herself, "That was too close."

Draco, however, was brushing his mouth out. He spat and said, "No, that was vile! You owe me big!" He squeezed more toothpaste into his mouth and kept brushing.

"I never want to see a naked mech again," said Elita. Just then, what looked like every soldier in camp came charging past towards the pond, all naked as jaybirds. Elita just stared with shock while Snarl snorted with disgust.

Draco glared at Elita and said, "Hey, don't look at me. I ain't biting no more butts."

After getting dressed up in her light armor again, Elita decided she need a walk around the camp to take her mind off her near-disaster at the pond. She was passing by Perceptor's cabin when she heard voices inside.

"You think that your men are ready for battle?" said Perceptor's voice, "Preposterous. They would not last 1 cycle against the Decepticons."

"They completed their training," countered Optimus, "They've passed every challenge I placed against them."

"Only after solar cycles of miserable failures," said Perceptor.

"You can't expect them to be perfect from the beginning," said Optimus.

"Those boys are no more fit to be soldiers than you are to be captain," said Perceptor, "Once the general reads my report, your troops will never see battle."

Draco growled as he listened in. "Oh no you don't," he growled, "I worked too hard to get Elita into this war." He turned to Chip and said, "This guy's messing with my master plan."

Chip nodded and said, "Jerk."

Inside, Optimus put his servo on Perceptor's shoulder and said, "We're not finished here."

Perceptor removed Optimus's servo from his shoulder and said, "Be careful, Optimus Prime. Ultra Magnus may be your father, but I am the Emperor's consul. Incidentally, I earned that position on my own. You are dismissed."

Optimus stormed angrily out of the cabin. As he passed by Elita, she said, "Hey, I'll hold him and you punch. Heh, heh, or not…" Optimus barely even looked at Elita as he walked by. "For what it's worth," said Elita, "I think you're a great captain." That did make Optimus pause and Elita could have sworn she saw a smile on his face. But then he continued on.

"I saw that."

Elita looked down at Draco and asked, "What?"

"You like him, don't you?" said Draco.

"Well, I did just say he's a good captain…" said Elita.

"No, not just 'like him', but 'like him, like him'," said Draco.

Elita's face immediately blushed, "What? No! I just-"

"Yeah, right, sure, go to your cabin!" snapped Draco. Elita turned to go, but she couldn't help but smile when she thought of Optimus. Maybe Draco was right, not like she'll ever admit it.

Draco turned to Chip and said, "I think it's time we took this war into our own hands." He chuckled sinisterly to himself as Chip looked at him with confusion.

"Sometimes, I wonder if I should have taken this job," muttered Chip.

The two of them waited until Perceptor left his cabin. By the looks of it, he was preparing to go to the pond as well for a bath. Then the two of them snuck inside. "Ok, Chip, we need a message from the general, telling that he needs backup and wants us to head up to the Tygan Pass," said Draco.

"We sure do," said Chip, "But I'm not sure if we can afford to wait for one."

"Chip, we're going to _forge_ a letter," said Draco.

"Uh, isn't forgery a federal offense?" asked Chip.

"Yeah, so is impersonating a soldier," said Draco, "No Bot's gonna expect us. Just do your hacking magic and start typing. There's blank datapads over there."

Chip shrugged and said, "Might as well start doing my part." He went over and started working on a letter.

Meanwhile, Draco was studying a picture of Perceptor with Emperor Alpha Trion. "Hmm… wonder how he got the Emperor to pose for that pic," he muttered to himself.

"Finished!" called Chip.

"Ok, let's see what you've got," said Draco, taking the datapad and reading it, "'From Ultra Magnus. Dear son, we are waiting for the Cons at the pass. It would mean a lot if you come and back us up.' Hmm… that's great, except you forgot 'And since we're out of energon goodies, maybe you should bring us up some.'?"

"Oh, good idea," said Chip, "Nothing quite spoils your mood when you're working hard and you just find out that there's no-"

"HELLO?" snapped Draco, "This is the army! During a war! Generals don't just send for backup on a whim!" He blanked the datapad and said, "Make it sound more urgent, please. You know what I'm talking about?"

"Oh, right," said Chip before taking the datapad and writing, 'From Ultra Magnus, the Decepticons are rapidly approaching the Tygun Pass. Their numbers may be greater than we anticipated. We need as many Bots as we can for this battle. Send reinforcements as soon as possible.'

Draco looked at the datapad and said, "That's better, much better. Let's go." Chip followed Draco out of the cabin, not noticing that the picture of Perceptor now had goofy-looking facial hair on it.

Snarl was refilling his coolant tanks at the coolant troth when he felt something on his back. He looked back and saw Draco and Chip standing on it. "Snarl, my man, hey, we need a ride," said Draco. Snarl just snorted and shot a blast of flame that knocked Draco off his back.

Snarl then looked at Chip who said, "Uh, I'll just be going now." He hopped off of Snarl and went over to a slightly crispy Draco. "You ok, Draco?" he asked.

Draco coughed and said, "I think we need to enlist some outside assistance."

Perceptor walked away from the pond, holding a ruined slipper and looking rather disgruntled. "Insolent ruffians," he grumbled. He turned back and yelled, "You mech owe me a new pair of slippers! And I do not 'squeal like a girl'."

Just then, a flexible tongue reached out and grabbed the slipper and popped it back into a waiting mouth. Perceptor let off a rather high-pitched cry of surprise at that. "Urgent news from the general," said a voice. Perceptor looked up to see a soldier holding a datapad out. What he didn't know was that the 'soldier' was actually a puppet made from various pieces of armor put together, with the optic and mouthplate being worked by Chip and Draco controlling the arms and providing the voice. Perceptor gave an odd look at the mount, a space slug which was currently eating the rest of his slipper. "What's the matter? Never seen a slimer before?" asked the 'soldier'.

Perceptor took the datapad and then asked, "Who are you?"

"Excuse me?" snapped the 'soldier', "I think the question should be 'who are _you_'? We're in a war, man! There's no time for stupid questions." The 'soldier' slapped Perceptor in the face before the space slug decided to move on. Draco quickly swiveled the torso around and continued, "I should have your hat for that! Snatch that right off your head! But I'm feeling gracious today so carry on before I report you." The space slug crawled over a nearby wall and out of sight. Perceptor read the datapad and then looked around for the 'soldier', but he had already gone.

Perceptor headed to Optimus Prime's cabin and barged inside. "Captain, urgent news from the general," he said, "We are needed at the front!"

Draco, who had been listening on that, turned to Chip and said, "Back your bags, Chip, we're moving out."

* * *

There's another chapter. Another relatively short one, but one that does provide some humor. I probably could have found a more Cybertronian way of doing the pond, but that would have taken out so many funny things from the movie. I also expanded Draco and Chip's dialogue for this chapter, adding in some more funny remarks. In case you're wondering, space slugs were introduced in War for Cybertron. Not sure if they exist in Transformers Animated, but I thought it was a good idea. Anyhow, a lot of action's going to happen in the next chapter, which should be up by Wednesday latest. Keep alert for that and please review.


	6. The Battle of Tygun Pass

**The Legend of Elita**

**Chapter 6: The Battle of Tygun Pass**

Troops:  
For a long time we've been marching off to battle

Brawn:  
In our thund'ring herd we feel a lot like cattle

Troops:  
Like the pounding beat our aching feet aren't easy to ignore

Bumblebee:  
Hey, think of instead a femme worth fighting for

Blagarak:  
Huh?

Bumblebee:  
That's what I said:  
A femme worth fighting for

I want her paler than the moon with eyes that shine like stars

Brawn:  
My femme will marvel at my strength, adore my battle scars

Bulkhead:  
I couldn't care less what she'll wear or what she looks like  
It all depends on what she cooks like: Beef, pork, chicken ...

Troops:  
Mmm ...

Brawn:  
Bet the local femmes thought you were quite the charmer

Bumblebee:  
And I'll bet the ladies love a man in armor

Troops:  
You can guess what we have missed the most  
since we went off to war

Bumblebee:  
What do we want?

Troops:  
A femme worth fighting for

Brawn:  
My femme will think I have no faults

Bulkhead:  
That I'm a major find

Blagarak:  
Uh, how 'bout a femme who's got a brain  
Who always speaks her mind?

Trio:  
Nah!

Bumblebee:  
My manly ways and turn of phrase are sure to thrill her

Brawn:  
He thinks he's such a lady-killer

Perceptor:  
I've a femme back home who's unlike any other

Brawn:  
Yeah, the only femme who'd love him is his mother

Troops:  
But when we come home in victory they'll line up at the door

Bumblebee:  
What do we want?

Troops:  
A femme worth fighting for

Bumblebee:  
Wish that I had

Troops:  
A femme worth fighting for  
A femme worth fighting-

The troop's marching song came to an abrupt halt when they came over the curve of the next hill. In front of them, they saw that remains of a village, devastated to the point that only burnt structures remain, a few still on fire. The sight of it easily humbled the soldiers with the magnitude of the Decepticons' brutality. As they entered the village, it looked even worse. Burn marks where energy weapons have it, broken remains of family possessions, mech fluid soaked on the ground.

Optimus turned to his men and said, "Search for survivors." The soldiers nodded and spread throughout the village, though their hopes weren't high. The Decepticons' mercilessness seemed pretty much absolute. However, they couldn't find any bodies of all, living or dead. Hopefully it meant that most of the villagers escaped the Decepticons' wrath. The alternative was not something you'd want to think about.

Blagarak scurried through the ruins in spider mode. Her several eyes looked in all directions as she went. However, she couldn't detect any lifesigns any better than in robot mode. She went inside the remains of one house and paused when she spotted the only intact item she had seen yet: a small cloth doll of a little girl's. She shifted to robot mode and gently picked it up. It wasn't hidden in some small nook or cranny, but was lying in the middle of the floor, completely undamaged. If was as if the Decepticons, for whatever reason, had just left it right there.

Optimus walked into the ruined house and looked around. "I don't understand," he said, "My father should have been here."

"Captain!" called Perceptor. Optimus and Blagarak walked out of the house and up towards the small hill Perceptor was standing on. Perceptor pointed down the other side of the hill. When the two of them got to the top of the hill, they stood in shock. The plain below was littered with the remains of Autotroopers, their weapons, and equipment. Quite clearly, the entire battalion had been massacred in one fell swoop.

Just then, Bulkhead walked up the hill, carrying the Magnus Hammer in one servo and a blue helmet in another. He walked over to Optimus and said, "The general, I think Megatron might have taken care of him personally. You shouldn't see the rest of him."

Optimus numbly took Ultra Magnus' helmet and looked at it. The mere thought of him shook him to the core. He turned and walked towards the edge of a cliff. Blagarak watched him go as the other soldiers came looked at the carnage the Decepticons had left behind. She could clearly see that Optimus was feeling badly. She had entered the war for the sole purpose of preventing the exact thing from happening to her father, but there was nothing Optimus could have done.

She started walking over to Optimus. The Autobot captain pulled out his axe and stuck it in the ground. Then he placed his father's helmet on top of it. Blagarak recognized its significance immediately. It was a marker for a fallen soldier, for when the body could not be buried and there weren't materials around for a holographic effigy to honor their passing. Optimus knelt in front of the small memorial in solemn silent. Blagarak walked up to him and said, "I'm sorry."

Optimus sighed and stood back up. "Well, he did say he'd rather go out in battle than rust away in retirement. But I had hoped his final battle would have turned out better." He then walked over to his steed, a Dinobot that resembled a Tyrannosaurus. He paused for a moment before mounting him. He turned to his troops and said, "The Cons are moving quickly. We'll make better time to Iacon through the Tygun Pass. We're the only hope for the Emperor now." He took the Magnus Hammer from Bulkhead and said, "Transform and roll out."

The soldiers followed their captain with renewed determination. They quickly turned into vehicle mode and drove after Optimus Prime. Blagarak got ready to follow, but paused for a moment. She took the doll she had picked up and placed it at the base of Ultra Magnus' marker. She bowed to it before following the others.

The troops slowly made their way through the Tygun Pass. While it was the safest and quickest way through the mountains, it was still not easy. Snow lay deeply across the mountainside, forcing them to trudge through it in robot mode. Not to mention there was an uneasiness of the cliffs looming above them and the thought that the Decepticons may not be far away.

Suddenly, the silence was broken when a rocket suddenly shot out of the munitions cart being pulled by Snarl. It flew up into the sky before exploding. Blagarak glared back at Draco and Chip, who were standing inside the new hole in the cart. Draco looked rather surprised before pointing at Chip, who glared at him reproachfully.

Then Optimus rode back and demanded, "What happened?"

"Uh…" started Blagarak.

"You just gave away our position!" said Optimus, "Now they'll-" Suddenly, an energy blast hit him on the shoulder and knocked him off his mount. The soldiers looked up as a small hail of lasers, missiles, and energy blasts started raining down from a nearby cliff. Optimus got back up and yelled, "Get out of range!" The soldiers quickly ran as fast as they could. Fortunately, the Decepticons seemed more interested in scaring than actually harming them. The soldiers ran down hill towards an outcropping of rocks that will provide shelter.

Suddenly, several blasts hit the munitions cart, causing it to catch on fire. Snarl began to panic as the flames got too close for comfort. "Save the cannons!" shouted Optimus. The soldiers quickly ran over and started unloading the cart as fast they could. They wouldn't be able to save all the cannons before the fire made their fuel explode, but they need to save as many as possible.

However, Blagarak was too preoccupied with trying to get Snarl loose. The Dinobot was too spooked to allow her to get a proper grip on his harness so he could uncouple it. Then deciding a more direction approach was needed, she took her sword and slashed at the harness until Snarl was free. She then jumped on his back and rode towards the rocks. And it was just in the nick of time as the cart exploded shortly afterwards. The explosion threw Snarl forward and tossed Blagarak into the snow. Draco and Chip landed not too far away. Draco poked his head up and gave her an annoyed look. "Oh sure, save the triceratops," he said before falling over.

Blagarak picked up Draco and Chip and started running towards the rocks as the Decepticons were still firing. The Autobot soldiers had managed to get there and were getting their cannons aimed. They started shooting their payloads at the Decepticons on the cliffs. Every Bot was actively working except for Perceptor, who was hiding under a small ledge. The Decepticons didn't let up their fire, but the Autobots cannons did create significant explosions when they hit the cliffs they were on. It wasn't clear whether the shots were effective, but the Decepticons did stop firing at them.

Optimus Prime held up his servo and said, "Hold the last cannon." Brawn paused, but got ready to set it off just in case. The cannons were designed to fire when a significant amount of heat was applied to a certain part. It was a failsafe to prevent accidental firing. This is why the Autobots kept a piece of flint on them.

The Autobots as the smoke started to drift away. However, their attention was not focused on the cliffs, but the tall hill near them. As the smoke clear, a lone figure could be seen standing there, with a cyber-hawk on their shoulder. The sight of Megatron alone would have been enough to fill them with dread. But quite rapidly, many other Decepticons appeared along the top of the hill. The soldiers started feeling very insignificant. There had to be at least a hundred Cons up there, maybe three hundred, compared to twenty of them. "Prepare to fight," said Optimus, "If we die, we die with honor." Just then, Megatron transformed to his space jet mode and started flying down the hill, with his Decepticon army following behind him. Optimus turned to Brawn and said, "Brawn, aim the cannon at Megatron."

The other soldiers unsheathed their swords, but Blagarak knew it was futile. There were way too many Decepticons to fight off, it was going to be a blood bath. But then she noticed something reflected on her sword. She looked up and saw a mountain overlooking the battlefield. Not only was it really high, but it was densely covered with snow. A plan quickly formed in her head. She sheathed her sword and transformed to spider mode. She ran over and knocked Brawn aside before grabbing the cannon. "Hey!" yelled Brawn.

Optimus saw Blagarak running onto the battlefield with the cannon. "Blagarak, get back here!" he shouted, "Blagarak!" Optimus growled with frustration before running after him.

Draco started to feel a little nervous as he looked out of Blagarak's backpack and saw the Cons charging straight for them. "Uh, why are we running straight into certain doom?" he asked.

"I need to be closer to aim," said Blagarak.

"Aim at what?" asked Draco.

"No time to explain," said Blagarak before changing into robot mode. She quickly focused the aim of the cannon until it was pointing right at the mountain.

Draco gulped as Megatron was getting closer. "Alright, you might want to light that about now. Quickly! Quickly!" Blagarak pulled out her flint and tried to get a decent spark from it to trigger the heat sensor. Suddenly, Laserbeak swooped down and knocked into her before flying away.

Meanwhile, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Brawn were watching their friend trying to pull off a seemingly suicidal ploy to bring down Megatron. "C'mon, we gotta help!" shouted Brawn before the three of them pulled out their swords and ran out onto the battlefield.

When Blagarak got up, the flint had fallen out of her servos and was somewhere in the snow. She looked frantically around for it, but there was no time as Megatron was about a couple dozen yards away and rapidly closing. Then she spotted Draco and grabbed him. He faced him towards the cannon and pulled his tail, causing him to spit out a flame at the cannon's heat sensor. When she let go, Draco was sprung forward onto the warhead of the cannon's missile. Megatron was right on top of them when the cannon went off, shooting high into the air. A voice could clearly be heard from it calling, "YOU MISSED! HOW COULD YOU MISS? HE WAS THREE FEET IN FRONT OF YOU!"

However, the missile landed on the top of the mountain with a boom. The snow on it started to quiver before it began falling off. Megatron paused and shifted to robot mode to allow better vision with his optics. The snow was falling off in bigger clumps, creating a domino effect and the start of a titanic avalanche. The snow that was being sent flying was blinding the Decepticons navigation sensors so they couldn't fly away from it in robot or vehicle mode and there was no way they'd be able to outrun it from that small distance.

Megatron realized this was going to cost him a significant portion of his army and turned upon the soldier who started the avalanche. With a roar of anger, Megatron sliced at the soldier with his sword. The soldier winced as the sword hit 'his' side before transforming to spider mode and running away. Megatron would have chased after him, but the avalanche was quickly ganging speed and he had to get moving too. He transformed to space jet mode and tried to outrun it as much as he could.

Optimus had nearly reached Blagarak when he saw the avalanche coming. He was frozen in surprise before Blagarak ran by and yelled, "Don't just stand there, run!" Optimus quickly turned around and started running away. At about the same time, the trio was getting close to the bottom of the hill. But then they noticed the avalanche that was rapidly eliminating the Decepticons and heading towards them. They promptly turned tailpipe and ran straight back for the rocks.

The Decepticon army went as fast as they could, but they were one-by-one swallowed up by the irresistible torrent of snow. Megatron was the last to go and let out an angry cry before he was engulfed.

Snarl noticed the peril his master was in and tugged his reins out from the Bot who was holding him. The Dinobot charged up the slope towards Blagarak. Blagarak saw him coming and hopped onto his back, changing into robot mode as she did. She then held out her servo to Optimus. Optimus grabbed it but then the first wave of the avalanche hit them, burying them both in the snow.

The soldiers saw the avalanche coming and quickly dived behind the rocks for cover. Very fortuitously, the rocks were sticking out an angle that caused the snow to ramp off over them and the avalanche hadn't picked up enough speed to tear them away, creating a shelter from the natural disaster.

Higher up the hill, Draco was riding down the avalanche, using the torn-off Decepticon hubcap as a bobsled. "Elita!" he called as loud as he could over the roar of the avalanche, "Elita!" He saw a piece of helmet armor sticking up out of the snow and asked, "Elita?" before pulling it up to reveal a snarling Decepticon face. Draco quickly pushed it back under and said, "Nope." He then resumed looking around and yelled, "Elita!" He then spotted a small metal arm sticking out of the snow and picked it up, revealing Chip to still be attached to it. "Man, you are one lucky bug," said Draco.

"Ugh, never wanna do that again," groaned Chip.

Further down the hill, Snarl suddenly burst up out of the torrent of snow. Blagarak coughed out some snow before looking around. She spotted Optimus further down. Apparently, the blow from the avalanche had knocked him out and he was drifting towards the cliff. "Optimus!" she shouted before making Snarl turn and move to Optimus. The Dinobot had some difficulty moving through the avalanche, forced to use a cross between galloping and swimming. But he was able to get Optimus and Blagarak pulled him onto Snarl's back before trying to make the triceratops fight against the icy torrent.

At the sheltered section, the trio was standing on each other's shoulders with Bulkhead at the bottom and Brawn at the top. "Do you see them?" called Bulkhead.

Brawn's working optic looked around before spotting Snarl and his riders in the avalanche. "Yes!" he called. He aimed his grappling line gun at them and fired. "Perfect! Now I'll pull them to safe-" said Brawn but the line was gone before he grab onto it, "-ty…"

Snarl was doing his best to fight through the avalanche, but he was steadily losing ground. Just then, Draco sled up to them and called, "Hey Elita, I found a lucky cyber-cricket!"

"We need more than luck," said Blagarak, "We need help." Just then, Brawn's grappling line landed next to them and Blagarak grabbed it. "Perfect," she said before she started using her spinnerets to tie strong cyber-silk around Snarl and to lengthen the grappling line's rope.

Draco and Chip hopped onto Snarl's backside and Draco said to Chip, "Ooh, nice, very nice. You can sit by me."

"Er, it just comes to me?" said Chip. Then the two of them looked down and screamed. They were moments away from going over the side of the cliff.

"We're gonna die! We're gonna die!" shouted Draco as Blagarak fitted the grappling hook to her energy bow, "Definitely gonna die. No way we can survive this. Death is coming!" As Snarl fell over the cliff, Blagarak fired the grappling line up towards the sheltered zone.

The other Autobots were trying to comfort the despondent Brawn. "I let them slip through my fingers…" moaned Brawn, holding out his servos only for the grappling hook to land in them. He barely had time to register its presence and grab it before he was dragged towards the edge of the cliff. The other soldiers dogpiled on Brawn, their added weight keeping him from being pulled over. "Pull!" yelled Brawn, but the Autobots lacked the leverage and strength to start pulling up. Then Bulkhead walked over and calmly picked them all up before he started walking backwards, pulling them away from the cliff with the grappling line following.

Dangling from the end of the line, Snarl was slowly being dragged back up. "I knew we could do it," said Draco excitedly, "Never doubted you for a second. You're the mech." He then hid back inside Blagarak's backpack with Chip. He popped his head back out for a minute and added, "Well, sorta." Blagarak had been feeling good about her victory, but Draco's last remark slightly spoiled it.

The soldiers hauled Snarl and his passengers up to the top. Snarl quickly climbed up the closest ledge he could climb and Blagarak and Optimus were taken off of him. Not long after Optimus was on solid ground again, he woke back up.

"Are you okay, sir?" asked Bumblebee.

"I'm fine," said Optimus, "Just shaken." Then he turned to Blagarak and said, "Blagarak, you are the craziest Bot I've ever met. For that, I owe you my life. From now on, you have my trust."

The other soldiers started cheering. "Let's hear it for Blagarak! The bravest of us all!" shouted Bumblebee.

"You're king of the mountain!" shouted Brawn.

"Alright, high five," said Bulkhead before trying to slap servos with another soldier, only to send that soldier into a rock. "Oops, sorry," said Bulkhead.

Optimus was helping Blagarak stand up only for Blagarak cry out in pain and hold her side. "Blagarak, what's wrong?" Blagarak winced pulled her servo away, mech druid staining it. "He's wounded! Get help!" shouted Optimus.

The world seemed to swim in front of Blagarak's optics. The last thing she saw before passing out was Optimus' face saying, "Blagarak, try to hold it out, hold it out." However, to her partially-delirious mind, it seemed like he was saying, "Elita-One."

After a first aid tent had been set up, the team's field medic had been working hard with Blagarak. The soldiers waited outside with worry, particularly Optimus.

Eventually, the medic came out, wiping off his hands. "Well, is he alright?" asked Optimus.

The medic hesitated before saying, "Blagarak will live."

Optimus would have smiled, but he noticed the hesitation in the medic's voice. "Is there something wrong in there? Did you have to amputate?"

"No," said the medic, "that techno-organic armor speeds up the healing process. It turns out it was only slightly more than a flesh wound."

"Then what's the problem?" asked Optimus.

The medic was silent for a cycle before saying, "Er, I can't really tell you, doctor/patient confidentiality, you know?"

Optimus frowned and said, "I'm going in there," opening the flap of the tent.

"Wait, you shouldn't go in there!" shouted the medic, but Optimus ignored him.

He saw Blagarak lying on a mat covered with a blanket. His breathing rate seemed normal to him, but he was clearly exhausted. Blagarak winced and slowly opened his optics. He sighed with relief and sat up. However, when he did so, the blanket fell down. That allowed Optimus to see _her_ bandaged chest. Optimus' optics widened. "What in the name of Cybertron?" he said.

'Blagarak' quickly laid back down and said, "Uh, I can explain."

Perceptor walked in and said, "Captain, we must keep moving. We must tell the Emperor…" Then he saw 'Blagarak's' bandaged chest and his expression hardened. "So it's true," he said in a hard voice.

"Optimus," pleaded 'Blagarak', but Optimus just stormed out, a confused and angry look on his face.

A few nanokliks later, Perceptor dragged 'Blagarak' out, the blanket still wrapped around 'his' body. "I knew there was something wrong with you," he told 'him'. He turned to the soldiers and said, "Gentlemen, we have been infiltrated."

"Blagarak's a spy?" asked Bulkhead.

"Worse," said Perceptor, pulling off 'Blagarak's' helmet and revealing 'his' more feminine face, "A femme!"

The other soldiers gasped in surprise. The comrade they had trained with and saved them was a completely different person than they thought.

Perceptor cast 'Blagarak' down onto the snow, "Treacherous snake."

She glared back up at him and said, "My name, my real name, is Elita-One. I did it to save my father."

"Irrelevant," said Perceptor, "This is high treason."

"I didn't mean for it to go this far," said Elita.

"Ultimate dishonor!" snapped Perceptor.

"It was the only way. Please, you have to believe me," said Elita.

Optimus just frowned. He had just given his trust to this mech not one megacycle ago, and now it turns out _she_ wasn't a mech at all.

Perceptor walked up to Optimus and said, "Captain, there is only one way to recover our honor and only one punishment fit for _her_." Optimus sighed before taking out Elita's spiral blade from its sheath.

Snarl growled and tried to charge forward. "Restrain him!" ordered Perceptor. Two soldiers somewhat reluctantly obeyed.

Draco and Chip were also watching. "Draco, we gotta do something," said Chip.

"You think I'd be standing here if I could?" asked Draco, "I can't do anything. The number 1 rule of the family guardians, the ultimate rule, is that no one outside the family can be allowed to see us. We're bound to only guide and assist from out of sight."

"Darn it, Draco, you know I can't do anything!" snapped Chip, "I'm only a cyber-cricket."

"I know," said Draco sadly.

Bumblebee, Brawn, and Bulkhead moved forwards, but Perceptor held out a servo. "You know the law," he said, "Interfere, and you share her sentence." The three soldiers reluctantly stood back.

Optimus walked up to Elita and held her sword high. Elita winced, waiting for the killing blow. Then the sword dropped in front of her. "A life for a life, my debt is repaid," said Optimus in a sour voice. He turned to the others and said, "The Emperor must know the Decepticon threat is gone. Roll out."

"But, but, you can't just-" started Perceptor.

Optimus glared at him and said in a harsh voice, "Roll out."

Perceptor still frowned, but he buckled under Optimus' glare. The other soldiers picked up their gear and head on through the pass. Elita did not follow. She could not follow. She had just laid the ultimate dishonor on her family, on the Elite Guard, on all of Cybertron.

The sun had set and Elita was still in that spot of the Tygun Pass. The only movement she made was to put her light armor back on. Chip had started a tiny fire going with small twigs, that was barely enough for even him. Snarl just sat behind Elita and put his blanket on her. Chip sighed and hopped under the blanket, hoping to get warmer.

Draco was looking for more firewood, mainly in the form of small combustible material leftover from the Decepticons' weaponry. "I was this close," he grumbled, "This close! Would have impressed the ancestors, gotten the top shelf in the entourage. Man, all my hard work…" He blew a small raspberry before sitting next to Elita. He pulled out a snack from Elita's bag and started roasting it on the fire. "Hi," he muttered to Elita.

"I should have never left home," said Elita.

"Ah, come on, you went to save your father's life," said Draco, "Who'd knew you'd end up shaming him and disgracing your ancestors? Losing all your friends? You know, you gotta, you gotta learn to let these things go…" Draco's voice started to choke up with tears.

"Maybe I didn't go for my father. Maybe I wanted to go to prove I can do things right," said Elita, picking up her helmet and looked at her reflection in it, "So when I look in the mirror, I'd see someone worthwhile." A tear rolled down from her eye. "But I was wrong. I see nothing." She tossed her helmet away.

Draco walked over and picked it back up. "Ah, that's just cause it needs a little spit, that's all." He spat on it and rubbed it until the surface was clear, "Just let me shine it up a little." He held it up and said, "I can see you, look at yourself. You look so pretty." However, Elita just turned her head away.

Draco looked at his own reflection in the mirror and sighed. He turned to Elita and said, "The truth is we're both frauds. Your ancestors never sent me, they don't even like me. Heck, I'm not even a family guardian. You know that empty spot in the family temple?"

Elita turned to him and said, "Where the Dragon Guardian was? But everyone said that it disappeared a century ago."

"Er, that's not quite right," said Draco, "The truth is I was sent to help your great-great-great uncle Sentinel-One about a century ago."

"But wasn't he-" started Elita.

"The one who lost his head, literally," finished Draco, "I didn't do a great job with him and got demoted down to incense burner/gong ringer. And your ancestors never let me forget it." He put down the helmet and said, "You risked your life to help the people that you loved. I risked your life to help myself. At least you had good intentions."

Chip walked over to the helmet and saw his reflection. He broke down and sobbed out, "I'm a poser too! I'm not lucky at all!"

"What? What do you mean you're not lucky?" demanded Draco, picking him up, "You lied to me?"

Chip nodded, "I was never a good luck charm. If I were, I wouldn't have made Elita blow it at the matchmaker's. All those good things were just coincidence."

Draco sighed before turning on Snarl and snapping, "And what are you? A sheep?" Snarl snorted in annoyance at Draco. "Never mind, the triceratops' clean," said Draco.

"I have to face my father sooner or later," said Elita, "Let's go home."

"Yeah, this isn't gonna be pretty," said Draco as he hopped up onto the helmet, "But don't you worry, kid. Things will work out. We started this thing together, and that's how we'll finish it." He and Elita pulled together in a hug. "I promise."

Meanwhile, lower down the mountain, Laserbeak was flying over the wreckage the avalanche left. He skimmed over the snow and squawked loudly in every direction. Not long after he passed over one patch of snow, a black servo burst out. Laserbeak noticed this and started circling back.

Megatron pulled himself out of the snow and looked around. His army was decimated, crushed to death by the raging torrent of snow and the fall from the cliffs. Only pieces of them remained on the surface. He growled loudly before lifting his head and letting out a roar of anger that echoed off the mountainside.

Just then, a small alcove bust apart. Starscream hopped out, nearly crushed by the avalanche forcing him into such a tiny place. Lugnut and Cyclonus, Megatron's top saboteur, climbed out from a large pit. Shockwave burst out from the wreckage of other Decepticons. Then Blitzwing melted his way out of his icy prison with his flamethrowers.

Laserbeak landed on Megatron's shoulder and chirped. Megatron turned around to see his five most loyal soldiers were still alive. "Well, it would seem we have suffered a setback," said Megatron.

"Megatron, it would advisable to turn back now," said Shockwave, "An army of three hundred strong reduced to six. Victory at this point is at an odd of 842:1 against."

"I am still Supreme Commander, I still give the orders," said Megatron, "And I say we still head towards Iacon."

"But master, we can't pass through the Autobots' defenses without being destroyed," said Lugnut.

"For once, he's actually talking sense," said Starscream, "I say we leave Cybertron and come back when we've got another army."

"True, we won't be able to storm Iacon like I had planned," said Megatron, "But taking it is not as difficult as you think."

"And how can six Decepticons hope to overcome ze most vell-protected city on Cybertron?" asked Blitzwing.

"Simple, we use our cunning," said Megatron, "Now you will either follow me now or join your brethren in their icy tombs." No Decepticon could say no to Megatron when he talked like that. The five of them followed their Commander towards the Imperial City.

This did not go without notice. Elita heard Megatron cry of rage and watched as his remaining troops reassembled and headed towards the city. If what she had heard about Decepticons, and Megatron in specific, were true, then there was still a chance for them to win. She ran back to Snarl, picking up her sword as she went, and got on before turning him around.

"Uh, home is that way," said Draco, pointing in the other direction.

"I have to do something," said Elita.

"Did you see those Cons?" asked Draco, "They just popped out of the snow. Like daisies!"

"Are we in this together or not?" asked Elita.

Draco hesitated for a minute. Chip turned to him and said, "Well, are we just gonna walk away after getting this far?"

Draco grinned and said, "Let's go kick some Deceptibuns!" He and Chip hopped onto Snarl's back as Elita rode him towards Iacon. They had to be warned before the Decepticons made their move.

* * *

There's another chapter, and this one was undoubtably the hardest to write. I originaly wanted to title it after the song, but I felt it wasn't enough to cover all that happens in the chapter. You can see a couple of extensions I've made here and there, particularly with Draco and Chip and the Decepticons. I was a bit worried about how well I'd be able to fit this in Transformers, but I think I've done it as well as anyone could. Anyhow, now we've only got one chapter left to do and plenty of stuff to take care of. I should have it up by Christmas so look for it under your tree. Please review.


	7. The Greatest Honor

**The Legend of Elita**

**Chapter 7: The Greatest Honor**

__

Word quickly spread around Iacon about the defeat of the Decepticons. Festive kites were flown. A parade was hurriedly prepared for the heroic soldiers who ended the Decepticon menace. It had everything: drum players, acrobats, even a dancing dragon. But the most important part was the soldiers marching near the front. In front of them, an official shouted, "Make way for the heroes of Cybertron!"

However, Perceptor was clearly the only one who was enjoying himself. The others were still reeling from the revelations of Elita's identity. Optimus rode his steed, Grimlock, near the front while Bumblebee, Brawn, and Bulkhead followed behind.

"I still can't believe that Blagarak was a girl the whole time," said Bulkhead.

"No wonder she avoided us at the pond," said Bumblebee.

"She was pretty wimpy when we first met her too," said Brawn. The other two gave an annoyed look at Brawn. "What? He was."

"You know, what the weird thing is?" said Bulkhead, "I don't think any less of her. She was a pretty nice person as Blagarak and I don't think she faked all of that."

"Actually, me neither," said Brawn, "Sure, she's still a femme, but if it weren't for her, we'd still be training back at camp. In fact, I might have dropped out if she hadn't figured out that pole thing."

"Yeah, but that's nothing compared with what she just did," said Bumblebee, "She saved our lives and all of Cybertron. That's a big accomplishment for any bot, mech or femme."

"Too bad the law keeps her from being celebrated as the hero she is," said Bulkhead.

Optimus was able to hear his men's conversation. In many ways, he agreed with them. However, he still felt betrayed about Elita lying to him. Obviously, it was necessary for her to do so. But for some reason, it seemed to hurt him more.

Just then, Elita rode Snarl through the crowds until she came up to Optimus. "Optimus!" she called.

Optimus turned to her in surprise, "Elita?"

"The Decepticons are alive, they're in the city," said Elita, "Well, not all of them, but Megatron is. They're still a danger."

Optimus' face hardened and he said, "You don't belong here, Elita. Go home."

Elita got onto Optimus' other side and said, "I saw them in the mountains. You have to believe me."

"Why should I?" said Optimus sternly.

Elita frowned before moving Snarl right in Optimus' path. "Why else would I come back?" asked Elita, "You said you trust Blagarak, why is Elita be any different?" Optimus paused for a cycle but then he moved Grimlock around Snarl. Elita then turned to the trio and said, "Keep your optics open. I know they're here." Then she rode Snarl further ahead before getting off.

Draco popped out of her saddlebag and said, "And where are you going?"

"To find someone who will believe me," said Elita before heading into the crowd.

The parade had advanced up to the Imperial Palace. Energon fireworks from one tower were shot into the sky in celebration. Optimus Prime and Perceptor walked up the stairs, with the dancing dragon close behind them. Optimus' troops followed behind the dragon. Alpha Trion walked down the first flight of stairs to meet them. Perceptor then handed over Megatron's sword, the one piece of the Decepticon leader they had managed to find, to Optimus. However, Optimus still felt a shred of doubt. Elita had sounded very sincere about her warning. Could the Decepticons have survived?

Then the drums stopped pounding and a gong rang for silence. When every Bot in the royal square was quiet, Alpha Trion spoke out, "My children, the Allspark smiles down upon the Autobot Empire. Cybertron will sleep safely tonight, thanks to our brave warriors." The crowd cheered loudly in celebration.

Meanwhile, at the back of the crowd, Elita walked up to one mech and said, "Sir, the Emperor's in danger." The mech turned away from her in a huff. "But the Decepticons are here," said Elita, but the mech didn't listen. Then she went over to another mech and said, "Please, you have to help," but that mech turned away from her too. She looked around and saw that she was being completely ignored. Then she turned to Draco and said, "No one will listen."

"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry, did you say something?" asked Draco in a disinterested voice.

"Draco!" said Elita.

"Hey, you're a girl again, remember?" pointed out Draco. Elita winced. She had forgotten how femmes weren't held with as much respect as mechs.

Then Optimus spoke, "Your Majesty, I present to you the Sword of Megatron." He held out the sword in front of him.

Alpha Trion looked at the sword and said, "I know what this means to you, Optimus Prime. Your father would have been very proud." Optimus smiled a bit at that.

But just as Alpha Trion was about to take the sword from Optimus, Laserbeak swooped down and snatched it out of their servos. The crowd gasped as the cyber-hawk flew off towards the roof with the sword. He dropped it over one of the gargoyles on the roof, which reached out a servo and caught it. Then the gargoyle stood up, showing the face of Megatron to the crowd below, who gave out a great gasp of astonishment and fear from the crowds. Then Laserbeak landed on Megatron's outstretched arm and gave a loud shriek.

After that signal was given, the dancing dragon burst open. Megatron's remaining Decepticons jumped out and charged forward. Optimus attempted to stop them, but Cyclonus blocked his hammer and knocked him over. Then he and Lugnut grabbed Alpha Trion and ran up the steps.

Optimus looked up from the ground and shouted, "No!" He changed into truck mode and drove up the stairs.

"C'mon!" shouted Brawn before he and the other soldiers changed to vehicle mode and drove up after their leader.

However, before they could get there, Shockwave and Blitzwing had closed the doors behind them, with Starscream shooting a few blasts from his cannons to keep anyone from getting too close. Optimus transformed back into robot mode and banged on the doors, but they were bolted shut. Not even the Magnus Hammer could smash through them. On the rooftop, Megatron gave a great laugh of victory.

The soldiers quickly picked up a large statue nearby and started battering at it against the door. However, the doors were built with the best of Autobot metallurgy and weren't showing any signs of breaking. Elita ran up the steps behind them and watched them try to break the door in for a few nanokliks. "They'll never reach the Emperor in time," she said to herself. Then a plan came to her head and she whistled loudly, catching the attention of the mechs. "Hey guys, I've got an idea." She then ran around the corner. The other soldiers watched her go before Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Brawn put down the statue and followed her. Optimus watched them go with puzzlement on his face.

On Elita's instructions, the mechs stripped of their swords and armor before they started to put on the clothing she provided. Meanwhile, Elita decided she needed modification of her own. She donned her full Beast Armor and started hunting around the palace. With some quick hunting, she found a spider, sitting in its web in a corner the maintenance bots had overlooked. Fortunately, it was the same type of spider as the one she first scanned in the garden. She scanned the spider before bringing up the specs on her armor. She started altering the armor, making it more form-fitting and feminine while retaining its combative effectiveness. When she finished, she uploaded the new configuration to her armor.

The Beast Armor shrank and blended closer with her skin. This will make removing it much harder than before, but it will be worth it. Bulky parts smoothed and molded itself against her natural body's shape. The claws disappeared from her gauntlets as they slid free from her fingers. The armor parted on her upper arms and legs, showing the now-purple flesh of her technorganic body. The boots slimmed before becoming feminine high heels. The eight spider legs on her back dwindled two as a spider's abdomen appeared on her lower back. The spider's head on her chest plate receded until it covered just her breastplate, leaving a noticeable midriff made from the spider's mandibles and fangs. Finally, her helmet shrank, showing her neck and lower face. It became remarkably less hideous, more of a helmet's than a spider's head. However, the four optics showing on it weren't ornaments, but her actual optics which had doubled with this upgrade. All in all, Elita's new armor was now a feminized version of her old armor, but still as practical in battle.

Then she walked back to the trio, now dressed up in their own disguises. Of course, their disguises were far less impressing, seeing how they were now dressed as femmes and very unconvincing femmes at that, particularly in Brawn's case. Then the four of them walked over to a set of pillars that went up to the windows on the second floor. They pulled out their sashes, made of cyber-silk from Elita's spinnerets. They wrapped them around the pillars like the weights Elita used to climb the pole back at boot camp.

They were about to climb when Elita felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned and saw Optimus. "I see my training hasn't been fruitless with you four," he said, before eyeballing the trio, "Though I don't think you were listening to well with my lessons on camouflage."

"I have a plan, Optimus," said Elita, "I'd explain it, but we need to save the Emperor now."

"Well, you'll have to explain it to me on the way," said Optimus as he took a banner and wrapped it around another pillar.

"You're coming with us?" asked Elita.

"Alpha Trion's in danger and it's my duty to rescue him," said Optimus, "Besides, if you were right about the 'Cons, then your plan will probably work as well. I just want to be there to do my part."

Elita smiled and said, "Wouldn't have it any other way." Then the five of them started to climb the pillars up to the second floor windows.

Cyclonus and Lugnut burst through the doors onto the balcony and carried Alpha Trion up there. The crowd below could see them clearly from up there. Just then, a face dropped down in front of Alpha Trion. "Boo," said Megatron before jumping down onto the balcony. In his arrogance, he had donned something he had been saving for the occasion: a purple cape, emblazoned with the Decepticon insignia. He turned to his soldiers and said, "Guard the door." Lugnut and Cyclonus bowed before walking back through the doors. Megatron smirked as he walked up to Alpha Trion, "Your walls and armies have fallen, and now it is your turn. Bow to me."

The five Decepticon warriors stood at guard at the door that led to the balcony. None of them noticed Elita's head as she peeked around a corner before turning back. "Ok, any questions?" she asked.

"Does this dress make me look fat?" asked Brawn. There was a smack followed by Brawn shouting, "Ow!"

Suddenly, the Decepticons heard giggling and pointed their weapons. "Who's there?" demanded Shockwave. Then a quartet of giggling femmes walked forward, holding unfurled fans in front of their faces. Three of them didn't move as gracefully, stumbling slightly on their dresses.

"Concubines," said Lugnut, lowering his P.O.K.E. missile.

Cyclonus grimaced and said, "Ugly concubines."

The three 'homely concubines' stood in front of the Decepticons and giggled. Lugnut waved back at them only for Cyclonus to smack him. Suddenly, an apple with a bite taken out of it rolled towards their landing gear and they looked down at it. Bumblebee noticed that one of his 'breasts' had fallen loose and quickly put a servo up to cover for it.

Optimus, who was waiting behind a corner, put his hand to his face and groaned. However, none of the Autobots counted on Laserbeak, who was perched on the doorway to the balcony. Laserbeak had spotted Optimus and was getting ready to give a shriek of warning. But suddenly, he felt his tail being pulled out while a pair of arms was forcing his wings together over his head. Laserbeak resisted as much as he could but then his automorph mechanism activated and he transformed to guitar mode. And before he could change back to bird mode, an intense flame welded his wings together, trapping him in guitar mode. Then Draco turned to Chip grinning and said, "Now that's what I call burning rock 'n' roll."

Chip laughed a little before saying, "I don't get it."

Lugnut reached down and gingerly plucked up the fallen apple with one clamp. 'Gingerly', since he could easily squish the apple into applesauce with a minimum amount of force. He handed it back to Bumblebee, smiling as much as his face structure could admit. However, Bumblebee already had an apple which he pulled out from where his breast should be, while Bulkhead pulled out two watermelons as Brawn pulled out an orange and a banana.

Before the Decepticons could fully realize what was happening, Bulkhead slammed the watermelons onto Cyclonus and Lugnut's heads before smashing them together, effectively knocking them out.

Then Bumblebee smashed the apple in his hand in shockwave's face. Before Shockwave could wipe the mess from his optic, Bumblebee kicked him in the gut, knocking him on his hands and knees. Then he smashed his head against Shockwave's back, knocking him down for the count. "That was for Wasp," he said before pausing and saying, "No idea why I said that."

Blitzwing was more on guard and tried to punch Brawn's head off. However, thanks to Brawn's shortness, he easily avoided the attacks. Then he grabbed Blitzwing's arm and judo-flipped onto the floor, knocking him out as well.

Starscream tried to blast Elita, but she kicked his arm away from her. Then she hit Starscream upside, disorientating him long enough for Elita to knock him onto the ground. She quickly wrapped Starscream up in her cyber-silk. "Optimus, go!" she shouted. Optimus ran up the stairs towards the balcony.

Megatron found his captive a lot more difficult than he had anticipated. "I grow tired of your arrogance, old man," he said, pulling out his sword, "Bow to me!"

Alpha Trion, however, stood tall and said, "No matter how the wind howls, the mountain cannot bow to it."

Megatron glared and said, "Then you will kneel in pieces!" He raised his sword up to chop the Autobot Emperor to bits. Just then, Optimus ran up and blocked Megatron's blow with the Magnus Hammer while simultaneously pushing Alpha Trion out of the way. Megatron tried to strike Optimus directly, but Optimus disarmed him and kicked him into a pillar. Then Optimus aimed a blow at Megatron's head with the Hammer, but Megatron grabbed his wrist, forcing Optimus to drop the Hammer. He then tried to throw Optimus over the side of the balcony, only for Optimus to shoot out a grappling line and swing back to kick Megatron. The two of them proceeded to scuffle on the floor of the balcony.

Just then, Elita and the trio ran onto the balcony. Elita saw that Optimus had Megatron preoccupied for the moment. But knowing the Decepticon leader's strength, he won't be able to hold him for long. She turned to Bulkhead and said, "Bulkhead, get the Emperor."

Bulkhead turned to Alpha Trion and said, "Sorry, Your Majesty," before picking him up and heading over to where a string of lanterns extended from the balcony to the ground below. He swung his sash around it before sliding down it with the Emperor under his arm. Surprisingly, the rope didn't snap under his tremendous weight.

However, Megatron, who Optimus had down in a pin, saw the trio escaping with his captive. "No!" he shouted before surging back up. He then grabbed Optimus' head and butted his own against it. Megatron's helmet was harder than Optimus' and the blow knocked Optimus out.

Elita winced as Optimus fell to the floor. "C'mon!" shouted Brawn from the ground. She had her sash around the rope and was ready to slide, but she couldn't just leave Optimus there. But Megatron was starting towards her, no doubt planning on going down the rope to get to Alpha Trion. Elita grabbed Megatron's fallen sword and chopped it into the pillar, cutting the rope. Megatron ran forward to grab the rope, but it had already fallen.

Megatron looked down and muttered, "No." The trio and the Emperor were already lost among the crowd and he couldn't pick out where they were. He couldn't just fly down there because the automated defenses would fire upon him as soon as he left the safety of the balcony. And by losing the Emperor before making him bow to him or cutting him down in front of them, he wouldn't be able to force the people of Iacon to obey him. He could hear them cheering about their leader's triumphant escape.

Megatron let out a roar of fury and turned around. Elita was helping Optimus up, who had just regained consciousness. "You!" snarled Megatron. He pulled his sword out of the pillar and stomped towards Optimus, who pulled a small energon dagger out. Megatron smacked it out of his servo and picked up Optimus and yelled, "You took away my victory!" He readied his sword for a blow through Optimus' Spark chamber.

A boot bouncing off the back of his head attention drew his attention away. "No," said Elita, "I did." She briefly altered her helmet to the one she wore as Blagarak.

Megatron recognized it instantly. "The spider from the mountains…" he said. He dropped Optimus and focused his wrath on her. His vendetta against him was inconsequential compared to her. It was bad enough that one bot was responsible for the decimation of his entire army, but for that one bot to be a femme was a disgrace beyond any forgiving.

Elita saw it was time to move as she put her boot back on and quickly ran down the stairs. She quickly slammed the doors behind them, but she felt Megatron pounding at them before his fist punched through.

Elita transformed to spider mode, which was lither now, and ran down the corridor. Draco dropped onto her back with Chip, Draco holding an electric guitar for some reason. "So what's the plan?" asked Draco.

"Um…" started Elita.

"You don't have a plan?" asked Draco.

"Hey, I'm making it up as I…go…" Elita paused as she passed by a window. She transformed back into robot mode for a better look. She had a clear view of the fireworks tower. One energon firework by itself would only knock someone back a bit, singe maybe. But if all of them were ignited at once… "Draco…" she said.

"Way ahead of you, sister," said Draco. He put down the guitar and grabbed Chip. "C'mon, Chip," he said before jumping onto a kite that was flying nearby. He detached the string and glided the kite over to the tower.

Just then, Megatron smashed through the door and charged down the hallway. Elita ducked behind one pillar, but Megatron just slashed through it with his sword. As she went around another, Megatron chopped through it too. Then Elita changed to spider mode and tried to climb up another pillar. But Megatron cut through that one as well, but lower than the others, causing the pillar to fall into and crash through a nearby wall. This left her dangling over the crowd outside the palace. But then she threw a line up to the roof and started climbing up it.

The two Bots at the fireworks tower were oblivious to the commotion going on in the palace and were getting ready for another display of fireworks. Suddenly, a voice behind them said, "Citizens, I need firepower."

They turned and jumped back when they saw some sort of creature that looked like a cross between bat and lizard. "Who are you?" asked one of the Bots.

"Your worst nightmare," hissed the creature, unfurling his wings. This was more than enough to scare the two Bots into jumping off the sides of the tower. The discomfort they'll feel from the landing would probably be nothing compared to the pain that monster would inflict on them.

Chip poked his head up from over the banister and asked, "Uh, wasn't that a violation of Guardian Rule #1?"

"Not if they didn't know what they saw," said Draco as he put away the kite he was using for wings for now, "Now help me find a nice big rocket, one strong enough to send a Decepticon flying, literally.

Elita managed to climb up onto the roof and changed into robot mode as she got a purchase on the rooftop. The crowds below noticed her and much murmuring were heard. Elita climbed up to the highest part of the roof, the beam between the tiles. She looked back and saw the fireworks tower. She judged the angle, level, and straightness of the main beam. To her relief, it was line up perfectly with the fireworks tower. Now she just had to wait for Megatron…

She didn't have to wait long. Megatron burst out of the roof behind her in space jet mode before changing back to robot mode. He advanced towards her, sword ready to strike. Elita quickly felt her person for something to use as a weapon. But all she found was that fan she used to hide her face from the Decepticon guards. She unfurled it, but a paper fan didn't seem much of a matchup for a tironium blade. Megatron grinned and said, "It looks like you're out of ideas," before lunging his sword at Elita.

However, Elita moved her fan in front of the sword. The sword easily went through it, but then Elita closed the fan around the blade and twisted it. The blade flew out of Megatron's hands. Elita caught it and swung it around, throwing the fan off the blade as she did, before assuming a fighting position. "Not quite," said Elita before calling, "Ready, Draco?"

Megatron looked at the other end of the roof to see Draco, who ripped the kite wings off his back to reveal a very large energon rocket tied to his back. "I am ready, baby!" shouted Draco before pointing the rocket at Megatron and breathing fire on a stick in his hand. He handed the burning stick back to Chip and said, "Light me!" Chip nodded before holding the flame to the fuse.

From that distance, Megatron mistook Draco for a small Bot aiming a missile at him. However, he understood the implication. He turned on Elita with a warcry but it was cut off when Elita stuck the sword in the rooftop and swung on it to kick Megatron upside the head. Then she dropped down and swiped his legs out from under him, making him fall down. As Draco's rocked launched forward, Elita grabbed Megatron's sword and used it to pin his cape to the roof. When Megatron looked up, he saw the missile heading right towards him. However, when he tried to move out of the way, he found he was stuck. Before he could unfasten his cape, the rocket struck, sending Megatron flying with it. Draco was left clinging onto Megatron's sword, which now only pinned a small piece of the cape.

Elita grabbed Draco and ran, muttering to herself rapidly, "Get off the roof, get off the roof, get off the roof…" Megatron let out a loud scream as the rocket flew with him right into the fireworks tower which virtually exploded on contact. Every firework went off at once. This resulted in both an astounding display in the sky as well as incinerating the top of the tower and everything in it, including the Decepticon leader.

Elita jumped as she got to the end of the roof. There was another rope with lanterns on it and she grabbed one and used it to slide down the rope. She let go over the stair in the royal square. However, her timing was a bit off as landed on Optimus Prime, who had just run out of the partially-burning palace. The two of them tumbled onto a flat between flights before looking at each other with surprise. Then the sword of Megatron shot down and landed nearby.

The trio ran up the stairs to them. "Elita! Optimus Prime! You're alright!" they cried.

"Was there ever a doubt?" asked Optimus.

"Well, I kinda got nervous when he started chasing me," said Elita.

"Well, I bet you had a great plan for that," said Bulkhead.

"Actually, I just winged it," said Elita.

"HUH?" Bulkhead's jaw dropped so low it actually fell of its hinges.

Draco landed shortly afterwards, laughing loudly. "I haven't had that much fun in centuries," he said. He reached up a hand and caught Chip. He held the cyber-cricket, who had a flame on his head, in his hand and said, "You are one lucky bug." He then licked a finger on his other hand and snuffed out the flame on Chip's head.

"Yep, more luck than I can handle," said Chip in a dazed voice.

The crowd cheered loudly. Not only at the brilliant firework display, but the demise of the Decepticon general it really represented. Fortunately, not too many people were in that section of the palace when the tower went off. However, one of those unfortunate few was stomping down the stairs. Optimus, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Brawn stood around Elita.

A notably-singed and perturbed Perceptor coughed before shouting, "That was a deliberate attempt on my life! Now look at what she's done! What a mess! Stand aside, that creature's not worth protecting!"

"She's a hero," said Optimus sternly.

Perceptor scoffed before saying, "She's a femme. She'll never be worth anything."

Optimus finally had enough of Perceptor and grabbed his shoulders. He shouted, "Listen, you pompous-"

"That is enough." The words, though level, carried a lot of weight. And well they should since they came from Alpha Trion's vocal processor as he walked down the stairs.

Bumblebee turned around in confusion and said, "But how… You were, we were, we didn't…"

Optimus let go of Perceptor, who stepped away, before walking forward and saying, "Your Majesty, I can explain…" started Optimus, but Alpha Trion held up a servo for silence before moving it in a gesture to stand aside. The four soldiers reluctantly stepped aside, revealing Elita behind them. Elita stepped forward and bowed to the Emperor.

Emperor Alpha Trion fixed a steely look at Elita and said in a steady voice, "I have heard a great deal about you, Elita-One. You stole your father's armor, ran away from home, impersonated a soldier, deceived your commanding officer, dishonored the Elite Guard, destroyed my palace, and…" Elita winced as she waited for the next accusation. "…You have saved us all."

Elita looked up, not quite sure if she heard what the Emperor just said right. Alpha Trion just smiled before bowing towards Elita. Perceptor, who had been writing down what Alpha Trion had just said, looked up and noticed his sovereign bowing towards Elita. He quickly threw himself on the ground in a bow. Beside Elita, Optimus, Bumblebee, Brawn, and Bulkhead all knelt on the ground and bowed as well. Elita looked back to see the entire crowd was bowing towards her, almost like a wave.

The only ones who weren't bowing were Draco and Chip, who were sitting on Snarl's back. Snarl had also lower his head in as good a bow as a triceratops can make. Draco sniffed and said, "My baby's all grown up and saving Cybertron." He turned to Chip who was also near tears and asked, "Do you have a tissue?"

Then Alpha Trion stood upright and said, "Perceptor."

Perceptor got up and responded, "Your Excellency?"

"See to it that this femme is made a member of my counsel," said Alpha Trion.

Perceptor sputtered for a few nanokliks before saying, "What? Uh, there are no counsel positions open, Your Majesty."

"Very well," said Alpha Trion before turning to Elita and pointing a thumb at Perceptor, "You can have his job."

"What? But, but, but…" stuttered Perceptor before his processor overload and he fainted.

Elita bowed to Alpha Trion and said, "With all due respects, Your Excellency, I think I've been away from home long enough."

"Then take this," said Alpha Trion, removing a pendant that bore his crest from around his neck and hanging it around Elita's, "So your family will know what you have done for me." He picked up Megatron's sword and gave it to Elita, "And take this, so the galaxy will know what you have done for Cybertron." Elita smiled at the gifts before throwing her arms around the Autobot Emperor in a hug. Alpha Trion looked taken aback for a nanoklik but smiled.

"Is she allowed to do that?" asked Brawn. The other soldiers just shrugged their shoulders. Elita moved away from the Emperor and towards her friends. Bumblebee and Brawn moved in to hug her. Then Bulkhead wrapped his arms around all of them and lifted them up in a big, if slightly crushing, hug. Then Bulkhead put them down and Elita walked away. Brawn started crying a bit and Bumblebee handed him a hanky to dab his good optic with.

Then Elita walked up to Optimus Prime. Optimus looked rather lost for words, "Um, you… you fight good," he said, patting Elita on the shoulder.

Elita looked slightly disappointed before saying, "Oh, thank you." She walked past him and up to Snarl, who had trotted up the stairs. She climbed onto the Dinobot's back and said, "Snarl, let's go home." Snarl snorted happily before turning around and galloping down the steps as the crowd cheered them on.

Alpha Trion walked up to Optimus and noticed the smile on Optimus' face. Alpha Trion smiled in understanding and said, "The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all."

Optimus turned to the Emperor in confusion. "Sir?" he asked.

Alpha Trion put it much more bluntly, "You don't meet a girl like that every dynasty." He turned around and said, "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to see to the restoration of my palace." He walked up the stairs, leaving Optimus Prime alone. Optimus' smiled again as he realized why his feelings have been so mixed up about Elita before.

Back at the One family's farm, Ratchet sat on the stone bench under the cherry trees. Their blossoms were starting to fall now, their pink petals floating around. A single blossom fell down onto Ratchet's lap and he looked at it. If he wasn't mistaken, this was the bud he had pointed out to Elita before she ran away. He sighed, he was so worried about his daughter, whom he partially feared he may never see again.

Just then, Elita walked out into the garden, Alpha Trion's pendant around her neck and Megatron's sword wrapped in paper in her hands. She spotted her father and hesitated for a moment before walking over.

Ratchet heard a noise before looking up to see the strange femme. Her coloring may have changed and her alt-mode appeared to be technorganic, but he recognized her instantly. "Elita?" he asked, scarcely believing it.

Elita knelt in front of her father and said, "Father, I brought you the Sword of Megatron." She placed the sword in Ratchet's servos, which were shaking slightly with surprise. "And the Crest of the Emperor," she added, taking off the pendent and placing it on the sword. Ratchet looked at the two artifacts as if not sure they were real or not. "They're gifts," explained Elita, "To honor the One family."

Ratchet looked at the gifts one nanoklik more before dropping them beside him. He got down and hugged Elita close and whispered, "The greatest gift in honor is having you for a daughter." Elita smiled, a pair of tears coming from her left optics. Ratchet wiped them away before embracing her closer. "I have missed you so," said Ratchet.

"I missed you too, Papa," said Elita as she hugged him back.

As father and daughter hugged, the other two femmes of the One family walked into the garden. They had met Elita already and were not surprised by her return. Arcee sighed with happiness but Red Alert was less than satisfied. "Great, she brings home a sword," said Red Alert sarcastically, "If you ask me, she should have brought home a mech."

"Excuse me." Arcee and Red Alert turned around to see Optimus Prime holding Elita's spiral sword. "Does Elita-One live here?" asked Optimus. The two femmes numbly pointed towards the cherry trees. "Thank you," said Optimus before walking past them.

Red Alert watched him past and said excitedly to Arcee, "Whoo! Sign me up for the next war!"

Ratchet noticed Optimus coming and stood up. Optimus bowed to him and said, "Honorable Ratchet-One, I…" Then he noticed Elita and said, "Elita! Uh…you forgot your sword." He held it out the sword to her before holding it to Ratchet, "Oh, well, actually, it's your sword, isn't it? I mean, uh…"

Ratchet and Elita exchanged a glance. Ratchet just shrugged his shoulders. Then Elita took the sword and asked, "Would you like to stay for dinner?"

Before Optimus could reply, Red Alert called out, "Would you like to stay forever?"

Optimus smiled at Elita and said, "Dinner would be great."

Ratchet turned to his daughter and said in a teasing voice, "Elita, you need to tell me before you bring home boys."

Optimus and Elita's faces blushed brightly. "Father…" hissed Elita, before pausing. "You know, I'm going to be wearing the Beast Armor for a while, aren't I?"

Ratchet took a good look at her and said, "I'm afraid so. You've bonded at a closer level than I thought possible. It will be several stellar cycles before you can remove it."

"I thought so," said Elita, "So I was thinking I could use another name. A warrior's name."

"Oh, so what should we call you?" asked Optimus, "We can't call you Blagarak anymore."

"You can call me 'honey'," called Red Alert. The three of them pointedly ignored this.

"'Blagarak'?" asked Ratchet.

"Just a name I was using while I was pretending to be a boy," said Elita, "I'll tell you all about it later." She thought for a few moment and said, "How about…Blackarachnia?"

Optimus nodded and said, "Blackarachnia sounds perfect…and lovely."

Blackarachnia smiled and said, "Thank you…Optimus Prime."

At the family temple, Yoketron was looking out the window and was watching Optimus meet the One family. He nodded in satisfaction.

Then Draco hopped up besides the window and said, "C'mon, who did a good job? C'mon, you can say it."

Yoketron sighed and said with great reluctance, "Oh, alright, you can be a guardian again."

"YEEEEEEEE-HAAAAAAW!" shouted Draco before jumping down, "WHOO-HOO-HOO-HOOOOOO!" Chip spat on his hands before picking up the stick and ringing the gong. The ancestor's spirits emerged from their headstones. Draco swung up to his old pedestal and called, "Take it, Chip!"

Chip started banging on pots and the gong like drums, quickly picking up a beat. "Best part of the job," said Chip.

The ancestor's quickly got in the party spirit and started dancing. "You know, he gets it from my side of the family," said one of the spirits.

Draco swung on a chain from the ceiling and shouted, "Call out for pizza!" Then Sentinel-One's head, which was tossed into the air like a volleyball, intercept Draco's chain and sent him flying forward.

Yoketron sighed to himself and muttered, "Guardians…"

Draco landed outside the shrine and on the steps. Blackarachnia, who was outside the shrine, knelt down and said, "Thanks, Draco," before kissing him on the forehead.

Just then, Sparkplug ran into the shrine, barking. He was followed from behind by the robot chickens. It looked like Draco's new tenure as a family guardian was off to a good start. "Draco!" shouted Yoketron's voice, making Blackarachnia and Draco wince. Or maybe not…

* * *

And here's the final chapter. And I am particularly proud of this one. As well making a couple of extensions, most notably the trio's conversation during the parade and Blackarachina getting her new monicher, I made a couple of changes. I had Megatron put on the cape because it was his style of arrogance and also because he doesn't have anything on his Cybertronian body to snag. I also had Laserbeak trapped in guitar mode instead of roasted because it made more sense that way. Anyhow, this is the fitting conclusion to a good story. I hope that next year's will be just as good. Please review and Merry Christmas to all!


End file.
